Thabit ibn Qays

ProfileThabit ibn Qays

Thabit (may Allah be pleased with him) was the son of Qays ibn Shammas, of the Khazraj of the Ansar. According to the early biographies, he was one of the early Muslims of Madinah, who spoke for the Ansar to the Prophet ﷺ, and was called the orator of the Prophet ﷺ. He was a big man, not handsome, with a loud voice, and he could speak beautifully in praise of Allah and the Prophet ﷺ. According to the early biographies, when the Prophet ﷺ came to Madinah, he said that the Ansar would protect him as they protected themselves and their children, and asked what they would have, and the Prophet ﷺ said Paradise, and they were content. He missed Badr, because the battle came without warning, and was present at the other battles. According to the early biographies, when the Prophet ﷺ did not see him, he would ask where he was, and called him his orator. Ibn Abbas told that when Musaylimah the liar came to Madinah and stayed in the house of the daughter of al-Harith, the Prophet ﷺ went to him with Thabit ibn Qays, who was called the orator of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and with a stick in his hand. Musaylimah said that if he wished, they would leave the rule alone, on condition that it would be theirs after him. The Prophet ﷺ said that if he asked him for this stick he would not give it to him, that he thought he was the one he had seen in a dream, and that Thabit would answer him on his behalf (Sahih al-Bukhari). The Prophet ﷺ had seen in a dream two gold bracelets on his arms that troubled him, and was told to blow on them, and they flew away, and he took them to mean two liars after him, one the man of San'a and one Musaylimah (Sahih al-Bukhari).

He was known for his fear of Allah. Anas told that when the verse was revealed telling the believers not to raise their voices above the voice of the Prophet ﷺ, Thabit stayed at home, saying that he was one of the people of the Fire. The Prophet ﷺ asked Sa'd ibn Mu'adh about him, and Sa'd went to him, and Thabit said that he had the loudest voice of them all, so he was one of the people of the Fire. When this was reported to the Prophet ﷺ, he said that on the contrary, he was one of the people of Paradise (Sahih Muslim). In another report, a man went to Thabit, who was sitting at home with his head bowed, and he told him that he used to raise his voice above the voice of the Prophet ﷺ, so his deeds were lost, and he was one of the people of the Fire. When the man told the Prophet ﷺ, he sent him back with great news, to tell Thabit that he was not of the people of the Fire, but of Paradise (Sahih al-Bukhari). According to the early biographies, he also feared when the verse came that Allah does not love the boastful, since he loved fine clothes and praise, and the Prophet ﷺ asked him whether he would not be pleased to live a praiseworthy life and be killed as a martyr and enter Paradise.

According to the early biographies, when the delegation of the Banu Tamim came to the Prophet ﷺ in the Year of Delegations and spoke in pride of their tribe, he told Thabit to answer, and Thabit praised Allah, who made the heavens and the earth and whose knowledge reaches all things, and said that He had sent from among them a prophet, the noblest of them in descent, the most truthful in speech and the best in character, and that the Emigrants of his people were the best in descent and the best in conduct, and that the Ansar were the helpers of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ was very pleased.

Thabit's first wife came to the Prophet ﷺ and said that she had no complaint about his character or religion, but that she, as a Muslim, did not wish to be ungrateful, and that she could not live with him. The Prophet ﷺ asked whether she would give back the garden that he had given her, and she said yes, and he told Thabit to take his garden and divorce her once (Sahih al-Bukhari). According to the early biographies, this was the first khul' in Islam. He then married Jamilah, the daughter of Abdullah ibn Ubayy, who had been the wife of Hanzalah, the man washed by the angels, and they had children.

According to the early biographies, when Abu Bakr sent the Muslims against Musaylimah at Yamamah, Thabit was the spokesman of the army, and commanded the Ansar. Before the battle, he put on perfume, as one prepares a body for burial, and white garments like a shroud. When some of the Muslims turned back, he told them to make way for him so that he could face the enemy, and that this was not how they fought with the Prophet ﷺ. He asked Allah to excuse him from what the enemy worshipped and what the Muslims were doing, and fought until he was killed. According to the early biographies, he appeared in a dream to a Muslim after his death and said that a man had taken his armour as spoil and hidden it under a pot in a certain house, and that he had a debt, and asked that it be sold to pay it. The man told Khalid, who told Abu Bakr, and the armour was found, and it was the only case in which a will given in a dream was carried out. According to the early biographies, his children were killed at al-Harrah.

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