Hilal ibn Umayyah al-Waqifi

ProfileHilal ibn Umayyah al-Waqifi

Hilal (may Allah be pleased with him) was the son of Umayyah, of the Banu Waqif of the Aws of the Ansar. According to the early biographies, his mother was a sister of Kulthum ibn al-Hidm, who hosted the Prophet ﷺ at Quba, so that Kulthum was his uncle. According to the early biographies, he was among the early Muslims of the Ansar, and broke the idols of the Banu Waqif. According to the early biographies, he fought at Badr and Uhud.

Ibn Abbas told that Hilal ibn Umayyah accused his wife and brought the case to the Prophet ﷺ, who said that he must bring proof or take the punishment on his back. Hilal said that he was telling the truth and that Allah would reveal what would save his back, and then Jibril came down with the verses of Surah an-Nur on swearing oaths between husband and wife (Sahih al-Bukhari). So Hilal is named in two places of the Qur'an, in this and in the verse about the three left behind.

Ka'b ibn Malik told, in his account of Tabuk, that when he asked whether anyone else had met the same fate as he, he was told of two men who had said the same as he had, and had been given the same order, Murarah ibn ar-Rabi al-Amri and Hilal ibn Umayyah al-Waqifi. He was told of two righteous men who had been at Badr, and in whom there was an example for him. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade the Muslims to speak to the three of them, and this went on for fifty nights. The two of them stayed in their houses and wept, while Ka'b, who was the youngest and the firmest, went out to the prayers and the markets, though no one spoke to him. Ka'b said that the wife of Hilal ibn Umayyah came to the Prophet ﷺ and said that Hilal was a helpless old man who had no servant, and asked whether he disliked her serving him. He said no, but that Hilal should not come near her. She said that, by Allah, he had no desire for anything, and that he had not stopped weeping since his matter began until that day (Sahih al-Bukhari). Allah then accepted their repentance, and they were named together in the verse about the three who were left behind (Sahih al-Bukhari).

WatchA lecture about Hilal ibn Umayyah al-Waqifi

Meet them inWhere they appear in the seerah

SourcesSources for this profile