Nuaym Ibn Masud was from Najd in the northern highlands of Arabia. He belonged to the powerful Ghatafan tribe. As a young  man, he was clever and alert. He was full of enterprise and travelled widely. He was resourceful, every ready to take up a  challenge and not prepared to allow any problem to get [...]

Musab ibn Umayr was born and grew up in the lap of affluence and luxury. His rich parents lavished a great deal of care and  attention on him. He wore the most expensive clothes and the most stylish shoes of his time. Yemeni shoes were then  considered to be very elegant and it was his [...]

Black, tall and sturdy, Muhammad ibn Maslamah towered above his contemporaries. He was a giant among the companions  of the Prophet, a giant in body and a giant in deeds. Significantly he was called Muhammad even before he became a Muslim. It would seem that his name was itself a pointer to  the fact that [...]

Muadh Bin Jabal was a young man growing up in Yathrib as the light of guidance and truth began to spread over the Arabian  peninsula. He was a handsome and imposing character with black eyes and curly hair and immediately impressed whoever  he met. He was already distinguished for the sharpness of his intelligence among [...]

A woman named Umm Anmaar who belonged to the Khuza-a tribe in Makkah went to the slave market in the city. She  wanted to buy herself a youth for her domestic chores and to exploit his labor for economic gains. As she scrutinized the  faces of those who were displayed for sale, her eyes fell [...]

His name was unusual and incomplete. Julaybib means “small grown” being the diminutive form of the word “Jalbab “. The  name is an indication that Julaybib was small and short, even of dwarf-like stature. More than that, he is described as being  “damim” which means ugly, deformed, or of repulsive appearance. Even more disturbing, for [...]

Inspite of his noble standing among the Quraysh, Abu Talib, an uncle of the Prophet, was quite poor. He had a large family  and did not have enough means to support them adequately. His poverty-stricken situation became much worse when a  severe drought hit the Arabian peninsula. The drought destroyed vegetation and livestock and, it [...]

He was at the end of the third decade of his life on the day the Prophet made public his call to  guidance and truth. He was held in high regard by the Quraysh, being wealthy and of noble  lineage. Some others like him, Saud ibn Abi Waqqas, Musab ibn Umayr and other sons of [...]

If you wish you may consider yourself among the Muhajirin or, if you wish, you may consider yourself one of the Ansar.  Choose whichever is dearer to you.” With these words, the Prophet, peace be upon him, addressed Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman when he met him for the first time in  Makkah. How did Hudhayfah come [...]

History has recorded that he is the only person who was born inside the Kabah itself. Together with a group of friends, his mother had gone inside this ancient House of God to inspect it. On that particular day it  was open because of a festive occasion. She was pregnant and labor pains suddenly gripped [...]