Khabbab ibn al-Aratt
| Khabbāb ibn al-Aratt خبّاب بن الأرتّ | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 585 CE Mecca |
| Died | 657/658 CE (37 AH) or 659/660 CE (39 AH) Kufa |
| Children | Abd Allah ibn Khabbab |
| Kunya | Abū ʿAbd Allāh, Abū Yaḥyā, Abū ʿAbd Rabbihi, or Abū Muḥammad[1] |
| Known for | being one of the 10 earliest converts to Islam |
Khabbāb ibn al-Aratt (Arabic: خبّاب بن الأرتّ), c. 585 – c. 660, was a Companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad whom Islamic tradition regards as one of the ten earliest converts to Islam.[2] Born as a slave in Mecca, he later became a swordsmith and was able to build up enough of a reputation to eventually get freed by his master. His beautiful recitation of the Quran is said to have been the direct cause of Umar ibn al-Khattab's (died 644, reigned as the second caliph 634–644) conversion to Islam in c. 616.[2]
Biography
[edit ]Khabbab ibn al-Aratt's background is uncertain, as medieval sources give widely different accounts. While some accounts regarded him in various ways as a mawlā (non-Arab client) of the Arab Banu Zuhra tribe, his descendants claimed that his father (whose name they gave as al-Aratt ibn Jandala ibn Saʿd ibn Khuzayma ibn Kaʿb ibn Saʿd) belonged to the Banu Sa'd branch of the Arab Banu Tamim tribe.[1] However, he most likely was the son of a non-Arab inhabitant of the Sawād (southern Iraq), perhaps an Iraqi Nabataean,[1] who was brought to Mecca as a slave and sold to someone belonging to the Arab Khuza'a tribe.[2] His name al-Aratt, which literally means 'afflicted by a speech impairment', likely points to someone who did not master Arabic like a native speaker would.[2]
As a slave and early convert Khabbab suffered heavily from the persecution of early Muslims by the Meccan elite, which would lead later tradition to see him as a symbol of Islam's power to emancipate and to reward steadfast belief regardless of origin or status.[2] In 622 Khabbab was able to escape Mecca by participating in the migration (Hijra ) of Muhammad and the early Muslims to Medina. He fought at the Battle of Badr in 624 and was highly regarded by Umar during his reign in 634–644.[2] He died a rich man, in the year 657/658 (37 AH) or 659/660 (39 AH),[1] and was buried outside of a village near Kufa where he had his estate.[2] His son Abd Allah ibn Khabbab was murdered by the Kharijites.[1]
Khabbab later figured as a transmitter of reports about Muhammad that were collected by the 8th/9th-century scholars of hadith, thirteen of which appeared in the Six Books recognized as most authoritative by Sunni Muslims.[2]
References
[edit ]Sources
[edit ]- Aerts, Stijn (2022). "Khabbāb b. al-Aratt". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_35414.
- Kister, Meir Jacob (1960–2007). "Khabbāb b. al-Aratt". In Bearman, P.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C.E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W.P. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_4113.
Further reading
[edit ]- Kister, Meir Jacob (1990). "On Strangers and Allies in Mecca". Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam. 13: 113–154. (a paper about non-Qurayshis who took a prominent place in pre-Islamic and early Islamic Mecca, including Khabbab ibn al-Aratt)