Usayd ibn Hudayr

ProfileUsayd ibn Hudayr

Usayd (may Allah be pleased with him) was of the Banu Abd al-Ashhal of the Aws in Madinah, known as Abu Yahya. According to the early biographies, his father Hudayr was a chief of the Aws who was killed at the battle of Bu'ath against the Khazraj, which left Madinah with young men for its leaders. According to the early biographies, Usayd was one of the few in Madinah who could read and write, a quick, eloquent man with a beautiful voice, handsome, fond of jokes, good at calming an angry room, and the best spear-thrower of his people. Over time he became the one the Ansar put forward to speak for them.

According to the early biographies, he came to Islam on the day that Mus'ab ibn Umayr and As'ad ibn Zurarah were sitting in a garden of the Banu Abd al-Ashhal, teaching a group of the poor and vulnerable. Sa'd ibn Mu'adh, As'ad's cousin, did not want to confront As'ad himself, so he told Usayd to go and stop them from confusing the weak with this man from Makkah, who might split families again. Usayd took his spear and came, furious. Mus'ab smiled and asked whether he would sit and listen first, and if he did not like it, they would go and not come back. Usayd said that this was fair, planted his spear in the ground and sat. Mus'ab recited the Quran to him and he was moved. He said how beautiful it was and asked how a person joined, and Mus'ab told him to wash and purify his clothes, to say the testimony of faith, and to pray two rak'ahs. He did all of that and went back to Sa'd, and Sa'd said that Usayd was coming back with a different face from the one he had left with, and went to hear for himself. According to the early biographies, he was one of the twelve leaders the Prophet ﷺ chose at the second pledge at Aqabah, and when the Prophet ﷺ came to Madinah, Usayd took the Prophet's ﷺ adopted son Zayd ibn Harithah into his house when he arrived.

The Quran was what he was known for. He told how, as he was reciting Surat al-Baqarah one night, with his horse tied beside him and his son Yahya next to it, the horse kept jumping whenever he recited, and quieted when he stopped. When he looked up he saw something like a cloud with lamps in it, and he went out so as not to see it. The Prophet ﷺ told him to keep reciting, and said that those were angels who had come near to hear his voice, and that if he had kept on reciting until morning they would have stayed so that people could see them (Sahih al-Bukhari; Sahih Muslim). Anas told that two Companions left the Prophet ﷺ on a very dark night and were lit by two lights in front of them, and when they parted a light went with each of them to their homes (Sahih al-Bukhari). The commentators say the two were Usayd and Abbad ibn Bishr. According to the early biographies, Usayd used to say that if he were always in three states, he would know he was among the people of Paradise: when he was reading the Quran or listening to it, when he was listening to the Prophet's ﷺ sermon, and when he was at a funeral and thought of himself in the place of the dead. According to the early biographies, he missed Badr, because he thought that it was only another raid for the caravan, and he told the Prophet ﷺ that he would not have missed it if he had known, and the Prophet ﷺ said that he had spoken the truth. According to the early biographies, he stayed beside the Prophet ﷺ at Uhud and was wounded many times.

He was also quick to defend what he loved. During the slander against Aishah, when the Prophet ﷺ asked who would excuse him from the man behind it, Sa'd ibn Mu'adh said that he would, and Sa'd ibn Ubadah of the Khazraj got up and said that he would never be able to. Usayd, Sa'd ibn Mu'adh's cousin, told Sa'd ibn Ubadah that he was a liar and a hypocrite defending hypocrites, and the two tribes nearly came to blows while the Prophet ﷺ stood on the pulpit calming them (Sahih al-Bukhari). On the journey when Aishah lost a necklace and the people had no water, and the verse allowing dry ablution came down, Usayd told her that whenever something happened that she disliked, Allah turned it into good for her and for the Muslims (Sahih al-Bukhari). According to the early biographies, when Abdullah ibn Ubayy said that the honourable would drive out the humiliated, the Prophet ﷺ asked Usayd if he had heard what Ibn Ubayy said, and Usayd answered that the Prophet ﷺ could drive Ibn Ubayy out if he wished, as he was the mighty one and Ibn Ubayy the humiliated, and asked him to be gentle with him, because he believed the Prophet ﷺ had taken his kingdom.

He joked a lot, and he told how once, as he was making the people laugh, the Prophet ﷺ poked him in the ribs with a stick. He asked to take his retaliation, and the Prophet ﷺ said that he could. He said that the Prophet ﷺ had a shirt on and he did not, so the Prophet ﷺ lifted his shirt. Usayd put his arms around him and kissed his side, and said that this was what he wanted (Sunan Abi Dawud, graded sahih in its chain by al-Albani). When a man of the Ansar asked the Prophet ﷺ to appoint him to a post, as he had appointed others, the Prophet ﷺ said that after him they would see others preferred over them, and told them to be patient until they met him at the Pond (Sahih al-Bukhari; Sahih Muslim). Usayd told this, and the Ansar did not push for office.

According to the early biographies, when the Prophet ﷺ died and the Ansar gathered at the hall of the Banu Sa'idah to choose a leader, Usayd was among the men of the Aws who stood with Abu Bakr and helped keep them together. According to the early biographies, he died in Madinah about 20 AH, and Umar carried his bier. According to the early biographies, he had never become rich and he died in debt, and Umar did not leave a Companion's debt unpaid but dealt with it himself.

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