In the city of Madinah, there lived a man named Julaybib (radiyallahu anhu). Julaybib did not have a family that anyone knew of. He did not have a tribe, which in those days was like not having a team, no one to stand up for you. He was poor, and he was very short, and some people were unkind about the way he looked. Some men made fun of him, so Julaybib learned to stay quiet and keep to the edges of the crowd.
But there was one person who never, ever passed him by. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ loved Julaybib. When there was a gathering, the Prophet ﷺ drew him near. When something was being given out, he brought Julaybib to the front of the line. Where other people saw someone small, the Prophet ﷺ saw a treasure.
One day, the Prophet ﷺ went to a family and said he had come with a marriage proposal for their daughter. The family was so excited! But then he explained: the proposal was not for himself. It was for Julaybib. The mother did not want to say yes. Julaybib? The man with no tribe and no money?
But the daughter had been listening. And she said something so wise that people still repeat it today. She said: marry me to him, for the Prophet ﷺ would never let me go to waste. She trusted that if the Prophet ﷺ chose something, it was good, even if it did not look shiny on the outside. And the Prophet ﷺ made a beautiful dua for her, asking Allah to pour good upon her, and good upon that, and good again. So Julaybib, the man nobody wanted, was married into a kind family, and his wife was blessed her whole life long.
Then one day, there was a battle, and Julaybib went out bravely with the Prophet ﷺ to defend the believers. When it was over, the Prophet ﷺ asked everyone: is anyone missing? Each tribe counted their people. All here, they said. All here. But the Prophet ﷺ looked around and said: I am missing Julaybib.
Think about that. The man with no tribe had someone counting him after all. The Prophet ﷺ himself was his family.
They searched the field and found him. Brave Julaybib had defended his friends with all his strength before going home to Allah. The Prophet ﷺ knelt beside him and said, three times: this one is from me, and I am from him. Then, because Julaybib was small, the Prophet ﷺ lifted him gently in his own two arms, and with his own hands he laid him softly in the earth, like tucking someone in.
Julaybib went to Allah carried by the arms of the one he loved most. Can you think of a softer way to go home?
So tonight, remember this: it does not matter one bit how tall you are, or how much money you have, or what anyone says about how you look. Allah sees your heart. And the people the world forgets are often the ones Allah holds closest of all.