Al-Miqdad ibn al-Aswad

ProfileAl-Miqdad ibn al-Aswad

Al-Miqdad (may Allah be pleased with him) was Miqdad ibn Amr of Kinda, an ally of the Banu Zuhrah (Sahih al-Bukhari), and is called ibn al-Aswad after the man who adopted him, al-Aswad ibn Abd Yaghuth. According to the early biographies, he was among the first seven or so to make his Islam public, and he was one of the Muslims who emigrated to Madinah. He fought at Badr (Sahih al-Bukhari), where, according to the early biographies, the Muslims had only two horses, and al-Miqdad rode one of them.

Ibn Mas'ud said that he saw al-Miqdad do something at Badr which he would have preferred above anything to have done himself. The Prophet ﷺ was urging the Muslims to fight the polytheists when al-Miqdad said that they would not say what the people of Musa said, to go with their Lord and fight while they sat, but would fight on his right and left, in front and behind. Ibn Mas'ud saw the Prophet's ﷺ face shine with happiness at that (Sahih al-Bukhari). The Prophet ﷺ sent him with Ali and az-Zubayr to Rawdat Khakh to take the letter that Hatib ibn Abi Balta'ah had sent to Quraysh (Sahih al-Bukhari). Ali asked him to ask the Prophet ﷺ about a matter he was shy to raise, and he did (Sahih al-Bukhari). He once asked the Prophet ﷺ what to do if a man he was fighting, after cutting off one of his hands, took refuge in a tree and said that he submitted to Allah, and whether he could kill him. The Prophet ﷺ told him not to, because the man would then stand where Miqdad had stood before, and Miqdad where the man had stood before he spoke (Sahih al-Bukhari).

He told a story from his hungry days. He and two companions were so hungry that they had lost their hearing and sight. They offered themselves as guests to the Companions, but none of them took them in, and then they went to the Prophet ﷺ, who took them to his house. There were three goats, and the Prophet ﷺ told them to milk them and set his share aside. He used to come late at night and greet them quietly so as not to wake the sleeper. One night Satan came to Miqdad and said that Muhammad ﷺ was with the Ansar, who would feed him, and had no need of the milk, so he drank it. Then Satan made him regret it, and said that the Prophet ﷺ would curse him. He had only a short cloak, which covered his feet if he pulled it up and his head if he pulled it down. The Prophet ﷺ came, greeted, prayed and went to the milk, and found nothing. Miqdad was sure that he would be cursed, but the Prophet ﷺ raised his head to the sky and prayed that Allah feed whoever had fed him and give drink to whoever had given him drink. Miqdad took a knife to slaughter the fattest goat for the Prophet ﷺ, and found that all of them were full of milk. He filled a large vessel until it foamed, and brought it to the Prophet ﷺ, who asked whether he had had his share of the night. Miqdad said, drink, and then the Prophet ﷺ drank, and gave it to him, and he told him to drink again, and then he drank. Miqdad understood that the Prophet ﷺ was satisfied, and burst out laughing so that he fell to the ground. The Prophet ﷺ asked if it was one of his tricks, and he told him the whole thing. The Prophet ﷺ said that it was only a mercy from Allah, and asked why he had not woken him so that they could have woken their two friends to share it. Miqdad said that he did not mind what the others got, so long as he and the Prophet ﷺ got it (Sahih Muslim).

According to the early biographies, he stayed in the army of the Muslims in Syria and Egypt, married Duba'ah bint az-Zubayr, a cousin of the Prophet ﷺ, and died at al-Jurf outside Madinah, and Uthman led his funeral prayer. A report in which the Prophet ﷺ names four people whom Allah commanded him to love, Ali, Abu Dharr, Salman and al-Miqdad, is graded da'if (Jami at-Tirmidhi; Sunan Ibn Majah) and is only mentioned here.

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