Al-Arqam ibn Abi al-Arqam

ProfileAl-Arqam ibn Abi al-Arqam

Al-Arqam (may Allah be pleased with him) was the son of Abu al-Arqam, whose name was Abd Manaf ibn Asad, of the clan of Makhzum of Quraysh. That was the clan of Abu Jahl and the rival of the Prophet's ﷺ clan, the Banu Hashim. According to the early biographies, he was a teenager when he accepted Islam, somewhere between twelve and sixteen, and most reports say about fourteen. A narration in al-Hakim says that he was the seventh to accept Islam, though the order of the first believers is disputed, since many hid their faith and some accepted on the same day. He was very quiet, and nothing is told of what he said, before or after.

He had inherited a house from his father, close to Mount Safa, where the Prophet ﷺ stood when he first called his family. According to the early biographies, a narrow alley led there from Safa, and the believers could come and go among the crowds without drawing notice. The Prophet ﷺ went there every day to teach the first believers, most of them the weak of Makkah, and to pray with them, and they kept it secret for years. According to the early biographies, Ammar ibn Yasir and Suhayb ibn Sinan met at the door of the house, and each found that the other had come to hear what the Prophet ﷺ was saying, and they went in together and came out Muslims. Umar came to the door with his sword, and the believers inside thought that they had been found out, and he came out a Muslim.

According to the early biographies, no one suspected al-Arqam, because he was a young man of Makhzum who could walk into any gathering of his own clan without anyone thinking that he might be a Muslim, and he never made his faith public. If the house had been found, it was the house of a man of Abu Jahl's own clan, and not that of a Hashimi. He was never tortured, and never called out.

According to the early biographies, he migrated to Madinah in 622 CE with the other Companions, and the Prophet ﷺ gave him a house in the quarter of Zurayq. He fought at Badr, Uhud and the Trench, and did not miss a battle with the Prophet ﷺ. He lived through the time of all four caliphs, and died in the time of Mu'awiyah, and Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas led his funeral prayer. According to the early biographies, when he gave his house to be inherited he asked that it not be sold. No hadith is narrated from him, and he is not to be confused with Zayd ibn al-Arqam, of the Khazraj, who told the Prophet ﷺ the truth.

Schools and mosques across the world are named after his house.

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