Abu Hurairah

Abd al-Rahman ibn Sakhr Ad-Dausi (Arabic: عبد الرحمن بن صخر الدوسي‎‎; 603–681), better known as Abu Hurairah[1], was one of the sahabah (companions) of Muhammad and, according to Sunni Islam, the most prolific narrator of hadith. He was known by the kunyah Abu Hurayrah "Father of a Kitten", in reference to his attachment to cats, and he was a member of Ashab al-Suffa. It is unclear as to what his real name is, the most popular opinion being that it was ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn Ṣakhr (عبد الرحمن بن صخر).[2] Abu Hurayrah spent 2 years 3 months approximately in the company of Muhammad[3] and went on expeditions and journeys with him.[4] He is credited with narrating at least 5374 Ahadith.[5]

For the archaeological site, see Tell Abu Hureyra.

Abū Hurayrah
أبو هريرة
Born600AD
Died678 AD
Resting placeAl-Baqi'

Early life

Abu Hurayrah was from the Arab tribe of Banu Daws and was born in the region of Bani Daws which was in Asir at that time. His father had died, leaving him with only his mother and no other relatives.

His name

His name is disputed among Muslim scholars. His name is said to be "Abd al-Rahman Ibn Sakhr","Abul Rahman Ibn Ghnam", abd al rehman ibn e yaqub"Abd Ibn Ghnam"[6], "abd Nahm Ibn 'Amir", "Abd Shams Ibn 'Amir", "'Omir Ibn 'Amir", "Abd Shams Ibn Sakhr", "'Amir Ibn Abd Ghnam",[7] "Sikin Ibn Mal", "Sikin Ibn Hana'", "'Amr Ibn Abd Shams", "Amr Ibd Abd Nihm", "Sikin Ibn Jabir", "Yazid Ibn 'Ashrqah", "Abdullah Ibn 'Aith", "Sikin Ibn Wathmah", "Borir Ibn 'Ashraqah" or "Saeed Ibn Al-Haryth".[8] His birth name is also disputed among Muslim scholars, his birth name is said to be "Abd Shams", "Abdallah", "Sikin", "'Amir", "Borir", "Amr", "Saeed", "Abd Amr", "Abd Ghnam", "Abd Yalil" or "Abd Tim".[9][6]

Life as a Muslim

Abu Hurairah embraced Islam through Tufayl ibn Amr, the chieftain of his tribe. Tufayl had returned to his village after meeting Muhammad and become a Muslim in the early years of his mission. Abu Hurairah was one of the first to respond to his call, unlike the majority of Tufayl's tribesmen, who embraced Islam later. Abu Hurairah accompanied Tufayl to Mecca to meet Muhammad who renamed him Abd al-Rahman ("servant of the Merciful"). Abu Hurairah then returned to his tribe to live for many years.

Military campaigns during Muhammad's era
Main article: List of expeditions of Muhammad

He was present during the Expedition of Dhat al-Riqa‘. Some scholars claim, the expedition took place in the Najd, a large area of tableland in the Arabian Peninsula in Rabi‘ II or Jumada al-awwal, 4 AH (or the beginning of 5 AH). They substantiate their claim by saying that it was strategically necessary to carry out this campaign in order to quell the rebellious bedouins in order to meet the exigencies of the agreed upon encounter with the polytheists, i.e. minor Badr Battle in Sha‘ban, 4 A.H. Muhammed received the news that certain tribes of the Ghatafan were assembling at Dhat al-Riqa‘ with suspicious purposes.

Muhammad proceeded towards Najd at the head of 400 or 700 men. In his absence, he mandated the affairs of Medina to Abu Dhar al-Ghifari (or according to Umayyad tradition, Uthman ibn Affan). The Muslim fighters penetrated deep into their land until they reached a spot called Nakhla, where they came across some bedouins of Ghatfan.[10][11]

However, the opinion according to Safiur Rahman Mubarakpuri in his The Sealed Nectar, is that the Dhat ar-Riqa‘ campaign took place after the fall of Khaybar and not as part of the invasion of the Najd. This is supported by the fact that Abu Hurayrah and Abu Musa al-Ash'ari witnessed the battle. Abu Hurairah embraced Islam only some days before Khaibar, and Abu Musa Al-Ash‘ari came back from Abyssinia and joined Muhammad at Khaybar. The rules relating to the prayer of fear which Muhammad observed at Dhat Ar-Riqa‘ campaign, were revealed at the Invasion of the 'Asfan and this, scholars say, took place after the Battle of the Trench.[11]

Death and legacy

Following the death of Muhammad, Abu Hurayrah spent the rest of his life teaching hadith in Medina, except for a short period as governor of Eastern Arabia (then called "Bahrayn") during the reign of Umar, and when he was the governor of Medina during the early Umayyad Caliphate. Abu Hurayrah died in 681CE (59AH) at the age of 78 and was buried at al-Baqi'.[12]


According to the Richard Gottheil and Hartwig Hirschfeld, Abu Hurairah was one of the close disciples of Ka'ab al-Ahbar.[13]

Reliability as Hadith Source

Although credited with over 5000 hadith (A. Kevin Reinhart states that 5,374 hadith have been attributed to Abu Hurairah),[14] Al-Bukhari's biography of the Prophet Muhammad noted that Abu Hurairah was a minor companion and a late convert to Islam who only spent approximately 2 years and 3 months in the company of the Prophet. In contrast to Hurairah, Prophet Muhammad's closest companions are credited with far less hadith; Abu Bakr is credited with 142 hadith, Uthman ibn Affan with 146, Umar ibn Khattab with 537, and Ali ibn Abi Talib with no more than 586 hadith. [15] This discrepancy between attributed hadith and Abu Hurairah's minor role and limited time with the Prophet has been called into question by a number of scholars who argue that Abu Hurairah's accounts are unreliable sources of hadith. Scholar Abdullah Saeed on this occasion points out that Umar bin Khattab, during his tenure as a caliph, threatened Abu Hurairah on a number of occasions with banishment due to his frequent misquoting of the Prophet's words. During his lifetime, Abu Hurairah was noted as a blatant self-promoter who often made up hadith based on his limited interaction with the prophet. However, later jurists had often taken Abu Hurairah's word seriously and frequently used them uncritically in later rulings. [16][17] A Shia Islam source (Islamquest, Porch of Wisdom Institute) quotes hadith saying that Umar ibn Khattab had Abu Hurairah whipped as well as threatened with banishment.[18]

See also

References
  1. Stowasser, Barbara Freyer (22 August 1996). Women in the Qur'an, Traditions, and Interpretation. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199761838.
  2. Glassé, Cyril (2003). The New Encyclopedia of Islam. Rowman Altamira. pp. 102. ISBN 0759101906.
  3. Sahih Bukhari Volume 001, Book 003, Hadith Number 118
  4. El-Esabah Fi Tamyyz El Sahabah. P.7 p. 436.
  5. Shorter Urdu Encyclopedia of Islam, University of the Punjab, Lahore, 1997, pg. 65.
  6. Al-Dhahabi. "The Lives of Noble Figures". library.islamweb.net (in Arabic). Retrieved 19 March 2019.
  7. Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani. "al-Isaba fi tamyiz al-Sahaba". shamela.ws (in Arabic). Retrieved 19 March 2019.
  8. al-Mizzi, Yusuf ibn Abd al-Rahman. "Tahdhib al-Kamal fi asma' al-rijal". library.islamweb.net (in Arabic). Retrieved 19 March 2019.
  9. الإصابة في تمييز الصحابة • الموقع الرسمي للمكتبة الشاملة. shamela.ws. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
  10. Muir, William (1861), The life of Mahomet, Smith, Elder & Co, p. 224
  11. Rahman al-Mubarakpuri, Saifur (2005), The Sealed Nectar, Darussalam Publications, p. 240
  12. Abgad Elulm, pp.2, 179.
  13. "KA'B AL-AḤBAR - JewishEncyclopedia.com". www.jewishencyclopedia.com.
  14. REINHART, A. KEVIN (2010). "Juynbolliana, Graduahsm, the Big Bang, and Hadîth Study in the Twenty-First Century" (PDF). Journal of the American Oriental Society. 130 (3): 417. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  15. "Abu Hurayra and the Falsification of Hadith". al-islam.org. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  16. Saeed, Abdullah (2013). Reading the Qur'an in the Twenty-First Century: A Contextualist Approach. Routledge. ISBN 131797414X.
  17. Armstrong, Karen (2019). The Lost Art of Scripture. Random House. p. 390-391. ISBN 147354727X.
  18. Sahih Bukhari,v.2, chapter: Bid’ul-Khalq (the beginning of creation), pg. 171; Muslim ibn Hajjaj Neishabouri, Sahih Muslim, v.1, pg. 34; Ibn Abil-Hadid al-Mu’tazeli, Sharh Nahjil-Balaghah, pg. 360; Dhahabi, Siyaru A’lamil-Nabla’, v.2, pg. 433-434; Muttaqi Hindi, Kanzul-Ummal, v.5, pg.239, hadith 4857, Imam Abu-Ja’far Iskafi, quoted from Sharh Nahjul-Hamidi, v.1, pg. 360; quoted in "Did Umar scold and punish Abu-Hurairah as a result of him forging hadiths? Archive code number 969". Islam Quest. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
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