16 Ṣafar '44 — Biography

Companions of the Prophet ﷺ — Part 2

Bismillāhir-Raḥmānir-Raḥīm

This is a continuation of Part 1 of Companions of the Prophet ﷺ. If you haven't read that already, then please do so here.

4. ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (رضي الله عنه)

ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ibn Abdul-Muttalib ibn Hashim ibn ʿAbd Manaf (رضي الله عنه) is another of the most known of the Prophet ﷺ's companions.

Allāh (سبحانه و تعالى) said in the Qur'an, whom which ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (رضي الله عنه) was included in:

"...Allah wishes only to remove Ar-Rija (evil deeds and sins) from you, O members of the family (of the Prophet ﷺ), and to purify you with a thorough purification." (1)

ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (رضي الله عنه) was one of the noble lineage. His father Abū Ṭālib had several children. The Prophet ﷺ wanted to help his uncle, so he took ʿAlī to live under his care while still being child. Thus, ʿAlī was brought up in the house of the Prophet ﷺ. ʿAlī had a blood relation and relation through marrige with the Prophet ﷺ.

ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (رضي الله عنه) was a Quraishite, his parents were also from the Quraish tribe. He was born 23 years before the emigration, and 10 years before the Prophet ﷺ had been blessed with the revelation (The Qur'an). He was born and Mecca and his mother had named him Haider (meaning lion). The Prophet ﷺ took care of him and to ease the burden of ʿAlī's father, due to him having several children. It has been understood that the Prophet ﷺ did this as a sign of graditude towards Abū Ṭālib, which is his uncle. During ʿAlī's embracing of Islam, he first was brought up in the house of the Prophet ﷺ. Being affected by the noble characteristics of the people around him, ʿAlī became a truthful and honest person. ʿAlī picked up a lot of the Prophet ﷺ's habits, and he became an amazing Muslim because of this.

The Prophet ﷺ said to ʿAlī (رضي الله عنه):

"I invite you to the religion of Allāh عز و جل, I invite you to worship Allāh عز و جل alone, to disbelieve in Al-Lat and Al-Uzza, and to denounce any partners with Allah عز و جل."

And after he ﷺ said this, ʿAlī (رضي الله عنه) accepted Islam without any hesitation, although he concealed it. He was convinced that the Prophet ﷺ would not tell him any lies or cheat him, especially since he loved him dearly and wished all the best for him. One day, the Prophet ﷺ and ʿAlī were performing a prayer at a place called An-Nakhlah, when Abū Ṭālib saw them. This was the first time Abū Ṭālib realized his son had accepted Islam.

ʿAlī (رضي الله عنه) was not afriad of whatever his father might do, and after the completion of his prayer, he went to his father and said to him frankly:

"O father! I have believed in Allāh, and in His Messenger and followed what he brought."

Then his father said to him:

"As for him (referring to the Prophet ﷺ), he will never invite you to something unless it is good, so adhere to him."

Now that ʿAlī (رضي الله عنه) had embraced Islam, he was brought free from polytheism. He never knew and did any wrongful acts that the disbelievers made. May Allah be pleased with him.

5. Ṭalḥa ibn ʿUbaidullāh (رضي الله عنه)

Ṭalḥa ibn ʿUbaidullāh ibn ʿUthmān ibn ʿAmr ibn Ka'b ibn Sa'd ibn Taim ibn Murrah ibn Ka'b ibn Luai ibn Ghalib Al-Qurashi At-Taimi (رضي الله عنه) was a companion of the Prophet ﷺ who was one of the first of 8 people who accepted Islam. He was nicknamed Abū Muḥammad, and his lineage meets with Abū Bakr (رضي الله عنه) at Ka'b ibn Sa'd.

When Ṭalḥa (رضي الله عنه) reverted to Islam, he was one of the best of Muslims. He was one of the strongest in religion, and one of the most sincere to Allah (عز و جل) and His Messenger ﷺ.

Ṭalḥa (رضي الله عنه) narrated his cause of his reversion to Islam:

"I went to the market in Busra (a town in Ash-Sham) where I found a monk in his synagogue. He was asking the people of this season (meaning the pilgrims):'Is there anybody among you from the people of Al-Haram (Mecca)?'"

"I said:"

'Yes.'

"Christian monk said:"

'Has Ahmed appeared?'

"I said:"

'Who is Ahmed?'

"The monk said:"

'ibn ʿAbdullah ibn Abdul-Muttalib who the Scriptures foretold, this is the month when he will appear. He is the last of the Prophets. He will appear in Al-Haram and migrate to a land that is swampy, rocky and has date palms. Be careful lest anyone should precede you in following him.'

Ṭalḥa (رضي الله عنه) said:

"The news was very interesting, and affected me greatly, so I went out quickly until I reached Mecca. A group of young men walked along the side of the road outside of Mecca and was chatting. They listened to the songs of the trade caravans heading to Mecca, and they saw under the scarf of darkness, a caravan slowly coming closer on the way back from Syria. To their surprise, when I stepped down from my camel, and ran toward them to greet them, I hastily asked if they had any news from Mecca."

"They said 'Yes,' and told that the city was in turmoil as Muhammad, the honest and trustworthy, alleged that he had been sent by Allāh to deliver the final revelation that would complete His religion. It called people to abandon the worship of inferior dead things like stone idols, and it directed people to pray to the One Allāh Who is the Creator of all living things, the planets, the sun, the moon and the oceans. Muhammad told them to be kind to their slaves and to stop fighting each other. These words touched me an I immediately inquired whether anyone of the Quraish tribe believed in him. They told me that ibn Abu Quhafah followed him, and they also had believed in and defend the Message he brought from Allāh, I told the group that he was a true messenger from Allāh."

"I went out directly until I came to Abū Bakr (رضي الله عنه), and told him the story and asked him to take me to the Prophet ﷺ, where I could proclaim my acceptance of Islam." (2)

Indeed, Ṭalḥa (رضي الله عنه) was a man of faith and wisdom, whom truth was more important than anyone else. He realized that a man of that caliber could never be an imposter, falsely claiming he had received a revelation from Allāh. He was one of those whom Abū Bakr (رضي الله عنه) brought to the Prophet ﷺ where they proclaimed the Testimony of Faith:

"None has the right to be worshipped but Allāh, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allāh."

ʿĀʾisha (رضي الله عنها) (Muhammad's third wife) said:

"Indeed, after Abū Bakr had reverted to Islam, he brought ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, Ṭalḥa, ibn Maz'un, Abū ʿUbaidah, Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf and Abū Salamah at Al-Arqam where they proclaimed their acceptance of Islam." (3)

Conclusion

This was a brief summary of 5 companions of the Prophet ﷺ, These companions have more to be read about, but this article was aimed to discuss interesting parts about them in brief.

May Allāh be pleased with them all, may Allāh bless you, and shukran.

Sources :

Information of the companions are from the book "The Precious Pearls" published by Darussalam Research Division.

1. Qurʾān 33:33

2. al-Isabah 3/420

3. ar-Riyad An-Nadirah 1/90