As'ad ibn Zurarah

ProfileAs'ad ibn Zurarah

As'ad (may Allah be pleased with him), known as Abu Umamah (Sunan Ibn Majah), was of the Banu Najjar of the Khazraj, the clan of the Prophet's ﷺ great-grandmother, Salma, and so of his maternal relatives in Madinah. The Prophet ﷺ named the Banu Najjar first among the best of the Ansar's houses (Sahih al-Bukhari; Sahih Muslim). According to the early biographies, his father Zurarah died before Islam and his mother and his brothers and sisters became Muslim after him. He was married and had three daughters but no sons, so he left no line of descendants. According to the early biographies, he was a young man when he became the chief of his clan, known for his good sense and gentle character, and for wanting peace in a city worn out by the wars between the Aws and the Khazraj. He had also dealt with the Jews of Madinah and often heard them talking of a prophet who was about to come, and he did not hold on to the idols of his people.

According to the early biographies, the first time he heard of the Prophet ﷺ was in Makkah, where he had gone with another man of his people to ask Utbah ibn Rabi'ah to settle a dispute. Utbah spoke against the Prophet ﷺ, but As'ad heard what Muhammad ﷺ called people to, the oneness of Allah, and it stayed in his mind. The Prophet ﷺ then met six young men of the Khazraj at the pilgrimage, and asked if they were the allies of the Jews of Madinah. They said that they were, and he sat with them, spoke about Islam and recited the Quran to them. They told one another that this was the prophet the Jews had been threatening them with, and that they should be the first to follow him. According to the early biographies, As'ad was the youngest of them, and the one the others looked to, and he was the first to say yes. The six became twelve the next year, and they asked for someone to teach them, and the Prophet ﷺ sent Mus'ab ibn Umayr to Madinah. According to the early biographies, As'ad took Mus'ab into his own house and walked him to the homes of the leaders of the city. He took the lead in the second pledge at Aqabah, when about seventy came, and spoke for the Ansar: he told them that this would cut their ties with the Arabs, that everything of this world would be lost, and that if they were not willing they should leave it now, since that would be better for them with Allah. Then he was the first to give his hand to the Prophet ﷺ. According to the early biographies, the Prophet ﷺ chose twelve leaders that night, and As'ad was the leader of the Banu Najjar. A long report from Jabir in Musnad Ahmad names As'ad as the youngest of the seventy who took the Prophet's ﷺ hand, but it is not graded here. According to the early biographies, he was the first of the Ansar chiefs to break the idols of his clan, and the other chiefs were then able to do the same.

His best-known deed is the first Friday prayer in Madinah. Before the Prophet ﷺ came, and before the call to prayer was known, As'ad gathered the Muslims every Friday at Naqi' al-Khadamat, at a place called Hazm an-Nabit, and led them in prayer, with forty men. It was Ka'b ibn Malik who told this to his son. Ka'b was blind in old age, and he prayed for As'ad whenever he heard the Friday call to prayer, because he was the first to lead them in it (Sunan Abi Dawud, graded hasan; Sunan Ibn Majah, graded hasan). According to the early biographies, when Mus'ab was in Madinah the people listened to a sermon from As'ad or from Mus'ab and then prayed two rak'ahs behind Mus'ab.

When the Prophet ﷺ came to Madinah, the Banu Najjar came out around him with their swords, and he stopped at the house of Abu Ayyub, and when he asked for the price of the land for his mosque they said they wanted its price only from Allah (Sahih al-Bukhari). According to the early biographies, the land belonged to two orphans under As'ad's care, and the Prophet ﷺ insisted on paying for it. According to the early biographies, the Prophet ﷺ led the first Friday prayer at Banu Salim on the way into the city.

As'ad fell sick with a swelling of the throat, and the Prophet ﷺ cauterized him (Jami at-Tirmidhi, graded sahih). He did what he could for him with his own hand, but As'ad died. The Prophet ﷺ said that the Jews would say that he could not even save his own Companion, and that he had no power to do anything for him or for himself (Sunan Ibn Majah, graded hasan). According to the early biographies, this was before Badr and while the mosque was still being built, and he did not live to see a Ramadan in Madinah. According to the early biographies, the Prophet ﷺ washed him and led the prayer for him, and he was among the first to be buried in al-Baqi'. According to the early biographies, the Banu Najjar then asked the Prophet ﷺ to appoint a new chief for them, and he said that he himself would be their leader, which pleased them. According to the early biographies, the Prophet ﷺ took his three daughters into his care and married them off in time.

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