At a glance
Companions- Dates
- Came to Madinah from Abyssinia after Khaybar, 7 AH (628 CE)
- Who
- Ma'mar ibn Abdullah ibn Nadlah, an early Muslim who sailed from Abyssinia on the Negus's boats, shaved the Prophet's ﷺ head at the Farewell Hajj and kept some of the hair, and who passed on the hadith that no one hoards but a sinner
- Stages
- The Final Years
ProfileMa'mar ibn Abdullah
Ma'mar (may Allah be pleased with him) is named in the hadith collections as Ma'mar ibn Abdullah ibn Nadlah. According to the early biographies, he was one of the early Muslims who left Makkah for Abyssinia, and he was among the migrants who came to Madinah in the boats the Negus provided after Khaybar. Abu Musa al-Ash'ari told that the people of the boat met the Prophet ﷺ at the time of the conquest of Khaybar, and that the Prophet ﷺ said that they had two migrations (Sahih al-Bukhari).
According to the early biographies, he was the man who shaved the Prophet's ﷺ head at the Farewell Hajj, and the Prophet ﷺ let him keep some of the hair, which he treasured, so that he was known as the keeper of the Prophet's ﷺ hair. Anas told that the Prophet ﷺ came to Mina, threw the pebbles at the Jamrah, went to his lodging in Mina, and sacrificed the animal. Then he called for a barber and turned his right side to him, and then his left, and then gave the hair to the people (Sahih Muslim). The hadith does not name the barber.
Ma'mar narrated from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that no one hoards but a sinner (Sahih Muslim; Sunan Ibn Majah, graded sahih; Jami at-Tirmidhi, graded sahih). Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab narrated it from him, and when someone said to Sa'id, "You also hoard," he said that Ma'mar, who had narrated this hadith, also used to hoard. At-Tirmidhi adds that the people of knowledge disliked hoarding food, and that some of them allowed it for other goods.
Ma'mar was also careful about trade. He told that he sent his slave with a sa' of wheat and told him to sell it and buy barley with the price. The slave came back with a sa' of barley and a little more, and Ma'mar asked him why he had done it, and told him to go back and return the extra, and to accept only like for like in weight, because he had heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, "Wheat for wheat, like for like." It was said to him that barley is not the same as wheat, and he answered that he was afraid they might be similar (Sahih Muslim).
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