Safinah

ProfileSafinah

Safinah (may Allah be pleased with him) is known by a name that is a nickname, meaning "ship." According to the early biographies, his real name is given as Rabah, Mihran, Ruman or Qays, and his kunya was Abu Abd ar-Rahman. He was a slave of Umm Salamah, the wife of the Prophet ﷺ.

Safinah told that he was a slave of Umm Salamah, and she told him that she would free him, on condition that he serve the Messenger of Allah ﷺ as long as he lived. He said that even if she did not set the condition, he would never leave the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. She freed him and made the condition (Sunan Abi Dawud, graded hasan by al-Albani; Sunan Ibn Majah, graded hasan). According to the early biographies, he travelled with the Prophet ﷺ and served him on journeys. According to the early biographies, on one journey he carried the swords, shields and baggage of his companions, until he carried a great load, and the Prophet ﷺ said to him that he was only a ship, and the name stayed with him all his life. According to the early biographies, he would say that this was the name the Prophet ﷺ gave him.

According to the early biographies, after the Prophet's ﷺ death, he lived in the valley of Batn Nakhlah, between Makkah and Ta'if, and kept out of the disputes. According to the early biographies, one of the most famous reports of him is that he was at sea, and the ship broke and he came to an island, where a lion came towards him, and he said to it that he was Safinah, the freed slave of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and the lion lowered its head and led him to the road. This is told in books of early biography, and its chains are not graded here.

Safinah told that the Prophet ﷺ said that the caliphate of prophecy would last thirty years, and then Allah would give the kingdom to whom He wills (Sunan Abi Dawud, graded hasan sahih by al-Albani). In another report, he told Sa'id ibn Jumhan to count the caliphate of Abu Bakr, then of Umar and Uthman, and then of Ali, and they added up to thirty years. When Sa'id said that the Banu Umayyah claimed that the caliphate was among them, Safinah said that they lied, that they were kings, among the worst of kings (Jami at-Tirmidhi, graded hasan).

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