Zayd ibn Harithah

ProfileZayd ibn Harithah

Zayd (may Allah be pleased with him) was about ten years younger than the Prophet ﷺ, a short, very dark man of the tribe of Kalb. According to the early biographies, he was taken from his mother as a boy by raiders while they were travelling to visit her family, and sold in the slave market for a small price. Hakim ibn Hizam bought him for his aunt Khadijah, and when she married the Prophet ﷺ she gave him to her husband, who treated him as a son. His father Harithah searched for him for years and grieved for him in verse. When Harithah and his brother found him in Makkah and offered any price, the Prophet ﷺ told them that Zayd could go with them freely if he wished. Zayd chose to stay. His brother Jabalah reported that Zayd said he would not choose anyone over the Prophet ﷺ (Sunan at-Tirmidhi, graded hasan). According to the early biographies, he told his father that the Prophet ﷺ treated him better than his own family did, and the Prophet ﷺ then took him to the Kaaba, freed him in front of the people and called him his son. His father went home content.

Until the verse came telling believers to call adopted sons by their fathers' names, the Muslims called him Zayd ibn Muhammad (Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim). According to the early biographies, he was the first freed man to accept Islam. He was with the Prophet ﷺ at Ta'if, the worst day of his life, when the people of the town drove him out and stoned him, and Zayd tried to shield him. He brought the Prophet's ﷺ family from Makkah to Madinah after the Hijrah. In Madinah, the Prophet ﷺ paired him with Hamzah as brothers. He married Umm Ayman, who had cared for the Prophet ﷺ since he was a child, and their son was Usamah. The commentators say he is the only Companion named in the Quran.

According to the early biographies, he fought in the Prophet's ﷺ battles, and the Prophet ﷺ put him in command of every expedition that he joined. The Prophet ﷺ made him commander of the army at Mu'tah, and named Ja'far and then Abdullah ibn Rawahah to take his place if he fell (Sahih al-Bukhari). He was killed there in 8 AH, and the Prophet ﷺ told the people in Madinah of his death with tears in his eyes (Sahih al-Bukhari). The Prophet ﷺ defended his son Usamah's command by saying that Zayd had been worthy of leadership and was among the dearest of people to him (Sahih al-Bukhari). When Umar gave Usamah a larger allowance than his own son Abdullah, he explained that Zayd had been dearer to the Prophet ﷺ than Abdullah's father, and Usamah dearer than Abdullah (Sunan at-Tirmidhi, graded hasan).

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