Abbad ibn Bishr

ProfileAbbad ibn Bishr

Abbad (may Allah be pleased with him) was the son of Bishr, one of the leaders of the Abd al-Ashhal clan of the Aws of the Ansar. According to the early biographies, he accepted Islam at the hands of Mus'ab ibn Umayr before the Prophet ﷺ came to Madinah, loved the Quran as soon as he heard Mus'ab recite it, and memorised what Mus'ab had taught the Ansar. His sister was married to Mahmud ibn Maslamah, so he was brother-in-law of Muhammad ibn Maslamah. The Prophet ﷺ said that among the best of the houses of the Ansar were the Banu an-Najjar, then the Banu Abd al-Ashhal (Sahih al-Bukhari). According to the early biographies, the Prophet ﷺ paired him with Abu Hudhayfah as a brother, and that was a house where the Quran was read through the night. He was called the friend of the Quran. According to the early biographies, the only hadith recorded from him is the Prophet's ﷺ saying to the Ansar that they were the inner garment, and other people the outer one. The same saying is reported by Sahl ibn Sa'd (Sunan Ibn Majah, graded sahih).

Aishah told that the Prophet ﷺ prayed at night in her house, and heard the voice of Abbad praying in the mosque, and asked her whether it was Abbad's voice, and she said that it was, and he prayed that Allah have mercy on him (Sahih al-Bukhari). Anas told that two Companions left the Prophet ﷺ on a very dark night, with two lights before them like lamps, one for each, and when they parted, each light went with him until he came to his house, and in another version they were Usayd ibn Hudayr and Abbad ibn Bishr (Sahih al-Bukhari). According to the early biographies, the light on his stick stayed with him a while longer.

Jabir told of a night on the expedition of Dhat ar-Riqa. The Prophet ﷺ asked who would watch over them that night, and a man of the Emigrants and a man of the Ansar volunteered, and he sent them to the mouth of the pass. According to the early biographies, the two men were Ammar ibn Yasir and Abbad ibn Bishr. The Emigrant slept and the Ansari stood in prayer. An enemy came and saw him, and shot an arrow, and it struck him, and he pulled it out and went on. He shot a second, and a third, and the man bowed and prostrated and woke his companion, and the enemy ran. The Emigrant saw him bleeding and asked why he had not woken him at the first arrow. He said that he was reciting a chapter of the Quran, and did not wish to stop (Sunan Abi Dawud, graded hasan). According to the early biographies, he said that had he not feared losing the post the Prophet ﷺ had given him, he would have gone on reciting until he was killed.

According to the early biographies, he fought at Badr and at the battles after, and was one of the men who went with Muhammad ibn Maslamah against Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf. The Prophet ﷺ used him in several posts: as a collector of charity from the Banu al-Mustaliq and the Banu Sulaym, and as the distributor of the spoils of Hunayn, and as the Prophet's guard at Tabuk. According to the early biographies, Abu Bakr trusted him as well. At Yamamah, he led a large group of the Ansar. Abu Sa'id al-Khudri told that the night before, Abbad said that he had seen in a dream the heavens opening for him, and then closing again on him, and said that this meant martyrdom. According to the early biographies, in the battle he rode between the ranks of the Ansar calling on them to break the sheaths of their swords and set themselves apart from the rest, and asked for more men. A large body of the Ansar followed him, with Abu Dujanah and al-Bara ibn Malik, and cut through to the gate of the garden where Musaylimah's men had gathered. He was killed, and his face was so cut that Abu Sa'id knew him only by a mark on his body. According to the early biographies, he had no children who lived. Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr named his son Abbad after him.

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