Adi ibn Hatim

ProfileAdi ibn Hatim

Adi (may Allah be pleased with him) was the son of Hatim at-Ta'i, the chief of the Tayy of northern Arabia, whose generosity became a proverb among the Arabs. According to the early biographies, Hatim kept a fire burning at night to guide travellers to his house, slaughtered his own horse to feed guests, gave away his camels in a famine, and asked that pots of food and water be set at his grave. Adi inherited his father's place, but, according to the early biographies, not his open hand. He was a devout Christian of an eastern sect, and as a chief took a quarter of the spoils of his people, which no other Arab chief did. According to the early biographies, he hated the Prophet ﷺ for years without meeting him, because he feared that Islam would end his rule, and he may have helped those who fought against him.

According to the early biographies, in 9 AH, when the Prophet ﷺ was bringing the tribes under Islam, he sent a force under Ali against the Tayy, and Adi told his servant to watch for the Muslim army and tell him when it came, so that he could flee with his family to Syria. When the servant told him that the banners had been seen, he took his wife and children and fled, but left behind his sister, Safanah. She was brought to Madinah as a captive and sat in the mosque's courtyard, and called out to the Prophet ﷺ when he walked by, that her father was dead and her guardian was gone, and asked him to be kind to her. He asked her who her father was, and when she told him, he told her that her father had loved noble character, and that if he had died a Muslim, they would have prayed for mercy for him. He had her freed, and told her to wait for a party of travellers she trusted, so that she would go safely to Syria. When her relatives came, he gave her a camel, clothing and money. Adi, in Syria, found that the Christians there did not treat him as one of them, and that he was a stranger. When his sister reached him, she reproached him for leaving her behind, and told him that if the man was a prophet, he would have followed a prophet, and if he was a king, he would lose nothing by going to him.

According to the early biographies, he came to Madinah, and people said that Adi had come. The Prophet ﷺ greeted him and took him by the hand to his house. On the way an old woman with a child stopped him, and he stood with her and heard her need, and Adi thought that this was not how kings acted. The house was a small mud room, and had a single cushion, which the Prophet ﷺ gave to Adi, and when he refused, insisted. Adi thought that he was not a king. A report in Tirmidhi that he asked Adi to take off his gold cross and recited the verse about taking rabbis and monks as lords is graded weak, and is left out. According to the early biographies, the Prophet ﷺ spoke of Adi's own religion, and told him that taking a quarter of his people's spoils was not lawful for him in it. He said that perhaps what kept him from Islam was the poverty he saw around the Prophet ﷺ and the strength of the enemies around the Muslims. Adi told it later. He said that the Prophet ﷺ asked him whether he had seen al-Hirah. He said that he had not but had heard of it. The Prophet ﷺ said that if he lived long, he would see a woman in a howdah travel from al-Hirah to circle the Kaaba, fearing none but Allah. Adi asked himself about the robbers of his own tribe. The Prophet ﷺ said that if he lived long, the treasures of Khosrau, son of Hormuz, would be opened. Adi asked whether he meant Khosrau son of Hormuz, and he said yes. He said that if Adi lived long, he would see a man carry a handful of gold or silver, looking for someone to take it, and find none. Adi said that he saw the woman travelling from al-Hirah to circle the Kaaba, fearing none but Allah, and that he was among those who opened the treasures of Khosrau, and that the third thing would come if they lived long (Sahih al-Bukhari). The Prophet ﷺ also told him to save himself from the Fire even with half a date (Sahih Muslim).

According to the early biographies, Adi accepted Islam, and returned to his people, and became one of the firmest chiefs in Arabia. When the Prophet ﷺ died, and many tribes turned away, he held the Tayy to Islam, and brought their charity to Abu Bakr, and stood against the false prophet who had called the tribes to him. According to the early biographies, he fought in the wars in Iraq and Syria. When Umar had not seen him for a time, he said that he remembered him, for he had believed when others disbelieved, and remained loyal when they betrayed. According to the early biographies, once he came to Umar's door and was made to wait, and when Umar came out and saw him, he welcomed him, scolded the man who had kept him out, and said that Adi's right was known, for he had come with his charity when others refused, and had held his people to Islam. According to the early biographies, he was with Ali in the battles of the Camel and Siffin, and lost an eye. After the fighting, he lived quietly in Kufa, praying in the first row and being the last to leave. When he grew old and prayed seated, he said that he did not want anyone to think that he held himself better than them, only that his bones had weakened, and he remembered the cushion that the Prophet ﷺ had given him. He lived very long, and died in Kufa.

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