Tamim ad-Dari

ProfileTamim ad-Dari

Tamim (may Allah be pleased with him) was of the Lakhm, a Christian of Palestine. According to the early biographies, he was a well-travelled merchant, who led caravans in several lands, and met Arabs of Makkah and Madinah in the markets of Syria and heard about the Prophet ﷺ from them. He was well read in the scriptures, and a seeker of the truth. According to the early biographies, when he understood that this man was calling to the religion of Ibrahim, and honoured Jesus, he asked a rabbi and a priest of his region about the prophet who was expected, and both told him that the time had come. He came to Madinah with ten men of his people, including his brother, in the year of delegations, and became a Muslim.

Fatimah bint Qays told that the Prophet ﷺ called the people to the mosque one day, outside the time of prayer, and sat on the pulpit smiling, and told them all to stay in their places. He said that he had not gathered them for exhortation or for a warning, but because Tamim ad-Dari, a Christian, had come and accepted Islam, and told him something that agreed with what he used to tell them about the Dajjal. Tamim said that he sailed with thirty men of the Lakhm and Judham, and the waves played with them for a month, until they came to an island at sunset. They met a very hairy beast, whom they could not tell front from back, who told them to go to the monastery, where a man was waiting to hear their news. They found a huge man in chains, who asked them about the palm trees of Baysan, the lake of Tiberias, and the spring of Zughar, and whether they still gave water and fruit. He asked about the unlettered Prophet ﷺ, and whether the Arabs fought him, and who won, and what the Arabs did. When he heard that the Arabs had followed him, he said that it was better for them to follow him. Then he said that he was the Messiah, and that he would soon be allowed to leave, and go through the whole earth in forty nights, but that he could not enter Makkah or Taybah, which is Madinah, for angels with swords stood at their gates. The Prophet ﷺ struck the pulpit with his staff, and said that this was Taybah, and told the people that this agreed with what he had been saying (Sahih Muslim). According to the early biographies, the whole party had seen this, not only Tamim.

According to the early biographies, he brought the Prophet ﷺ gifts, a horse, a cloak and a jar of wine, and the Prophet ﷺ told him that wine had been made unlawful. He set free the five slaves who came with him. He asked the Prophet ﷺ about the man who accepts Islam at the hand of another Muslim, and the Prophet ﷺ said that he was the closest of people to him in life and in death (Sunan at-Tirmidhi, graded hasan). Tamim told the Prophet's ﷺ saying that the religion is sincerity, to Allah, to His Book, to His Messenger, and to the leaders of the Muslims and their common people (Sahih Muslim). A man of Banu Sahm died on a journey with Tamim and Adi ibn Badda, in a land with no Muslim. The two came back with his goods, but said that a silver bowl with gold had been lost. The Prophet ﷺ had them swear, and the bowl was found in Makkah with people who said they had bought it from Tamim and Adi. Then two of the dead man's relatives swore that their testimony was truer, and the rule about witnessing a will on a journey was revealed (Sahih al-Bukhari). According to the early biographies, Tamim said after he became a Muslim that he regretted what he had done.

According to the early biographies, he was one of the first Companions to take a lamp, or oil for lamps, to the Prophet's ﷺ mosque, from Palestine's olive oil, and the Prophet ﷺ prayed that Allah give him light on the Day of Judgment. He gave himself to the Quran. According to the early biographies, he prayed at night, sometimes repeating a single verse in tears until morning. When a man asked how much Quran he recited at night, he rebuked him, and said that he would rather pray three rak'ahs and say nothing than recite the whole Quran and tell people of it. When the man was hurt, he explained that, if he told him, the man might despair if he could not do as much, or think little of the Companions if he did less. According to the early biographies, when he once missed his night prayer, he prayed every night for a year as a penalty on himself. According to the early biographies, Umar gave him leave to teach and tell stories from the earlier scriptures in the Prophet's ﷺ mosque, and he had a fine garment that he wore for prayer, and another that he kept for the night of power. According to the early biographies, he left Madinah when the troubles began, and went back to Palestine, and died there. According to the early biographies, he asked the Prophet ﷺ for a grant of land in Palestine, for himself and his family, for when Islam reached it, and the Prophet ﷺ gave it to him.

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