• While the Muslim army was departing for the battle of Badr, a sixteen-year-old boy by the name of Umair ibn Abi Waqaas Radhi Allahu Anhu secretly accompanied them. When his elder brother, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqaas Radhi Allahu Anhu, saw him hiding he asked : "What are you doing, my brother?"

Umair Radhi Allahu Anhu replied : "I fear that the Prophet of Allah might see me and send me back home due to my young age. I for one would love to fight in the battle, perhaps Allah might honour me with martyrdom.”

When he was presented to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam he was told to go back home. He began crying. Finally he was allowed to stay. Umair Radhi Allahu Anhu was killed in the battle thus being blessed as a martyr for the cause of Islam.

• Usama ibn Zaid was nineteen years of age when the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam made him the commander of the Muslim army to fight the Greeks. The army had such notable men like Abu Bakr and Umar Radhi Allahu Anhuma.

• Mohammed ibn Qasim Saqafi, at seventeen years of age, was made commander of a Muslim army of around six thousand men. He fulfilled his task with astounding heroism and conquered many cities in India annexing them to the Islamic khalifate.

• The conqueror of Spain, Tariq ibn Ziyad, was seventeen years of age. He was the military commander of Musa ibn Nusair, the Muslim governor of Africa. This brave young man was placed at the head of seven thousand men and commanded to lead the Muslim naval fleet to the shores of Spain. Tariq landed on the shores of Spain, in 92 AH, at a place today known as Gibraltar. Gibraltar is a concocted version of the Arabic, Jabal-al-Tariq, meaning 'the mountain of Tariq' in honour of this young brave commander of the Muslims.