Suhayb ar-Rumi

ProfileSuhayb ar-Rumi

Suhayb (may Allah be pleased with him), known as Abu Yahya, was called ar-Rumi, the Roman, though he was an Arab. According to the early biographies, his father Sinan ibn Malik was a governor of al-Ubullah in what is now Iraq, appointed by the Persian emperor. When Suhayb was still a small boy, Byzantine raiders attacked a town where his mother had taken him for a picnic, and took him away as a prisoner, and he was sold from master to master in the Roman lands until he grew up. He told Abd ar-Rahman ibn Awf, who had said that he should not attribute himself to anyone but his father, that he would not say it for a great sum, but that he had been kidnapped as a child (Sahih al-Bukhari). Eventually he escaped and made his way to Makkah, a place of refuge. According to the early biographies, he worked with Abdullah ibn Jud'an, and he was clever in trade and became wealthy. He is described in Sahih al-Bukhari as the freed slave of the Banu Jud'an.

According to the early biographies, he was one of the earliest believers in Makkah. Having no tribe in Makkah, he had no protection, and he suffered a great deal for his faith and kept it. When the others had gone to Madinah, the Quraysh stopped him from leaving, since he had no family to support him. According to the early biographies, he found a chance to escape, but the Quraysh caught up with him on the road and said that he had come to Makkah with nothing and become rich among them, and would not leave with it. Suhayb told them that he had forty arrows and was a good shot, so forty of them would die and then he would use his sword. Then he told them that he would give them all his wealth if they let him go, and he told them where it was hidden. They sent men to check, found it, and let him go.

He arrived at Quba while the Prophet ﷺ was still there. According to the early biographies, the Prophet ﷺ saw him and said that his bargain had been profitable, and Suhayb said that only Allah could have told him. Some commentators say that the verse about the one among the people who sells himself seeking the pleasure of Allah was revealed about him, though others give different occasions. The report of the Prophet's ﷺ words and of the verse is not graded here.

The Prophet ﷺ said of the believer that his affairs are all good for him, and that this is true for no one but a believer, because if something good happens to him he is thankful and if hardship comes he is patient, and both are good for him (Sahih Muslim, reported by Suhayb). He also told that when the people of Paradise enter it, Allah will ask whether they want anything more, and He will lift the veil, and nothing they were given will be dearer to them than looking at their Lord (Sahih Muslim, reported by Suhayb). When Suhayb's sons claimed that the Prophet ﷺ had given him two houses and a room, Ibn Umar bore witness to it (Sahih al-Bukhari). When Umar was stabbed, Suhayb wept and cried out for him, and Umar reminded him that the dead are troubled by the weeping of the living (Sahih al-Bukhari; Sahih Muslim). According to the early biographies, Umar told Suhayb to lead the people in prayer in the days after he was stabbed, until the council of the six chose a successor, and Suhayb led his funeral prayer. According to the early biographies, he died in Madinah in 38 AH and was buried in al-Baqi'.

WatchLectures about Suhayb ar-Rumi

Meet them inWhere they appear in the seerah

SourcesSources for this profile