Rabi'ah ibn al-Harith

Biography

Rabiʿa ibn al-Harith ibn ʿAbd al-Muttalib was a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad, and was about two years older than his uncle Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib. Before Islam he worked as a merchant, sometimes in partnership with Uthman ibn Affan.

He did not take part in the Battle of Badr with Quraysh because he was away on a trading journey in Syria. Rabiʿa embraced Islam around the time of the Battle of the Trench, migrating to Medina together with his uncle al-ʿAbbas and his brother Nawfal ibn al-Harith. At Khaybar, Muhammad allotted him 100 wasqs of produce annually and praised him, saying:

Rabiʿa was present at the Conquest of Mecca, and fought alongside Muhammad at Hunayn and Taʾif, where he was among those who stood firm. He later lived in Medina and died there in 23 AH (644 CE) during the caliphate of Umar ibn al-Khattab. Some reports place his death earlier, in 13 AH.

Rabiʿa had several children, including: Muhammad, ʿAbd Allah, al-Harith, al-ʿAbbas, Umayya, ʿAbd Shams, Abd al-Muttalib ibn Rabiʿa ibn al-Harith, Arwa al-Kubra, and Hind, whose mother was Umm al-Hakam bint al-Zubayr ibn ʿAbd al-Muttalib; and Arwa al-Sughra, whose mother was a concubine.

Family

He was a son of Al-Harith ibn Abd al-Muttalib of the Hashim clan of the Quraysh in Mecca.

He married his cousin Umm al-Hakam bint al-Zubayr and they had nine children.

1. Muhammad.
2. Abd Allah.
3. Abbas, He had a son named Abd al-Rahman buried in Ahmed Pur Sial, Jhang.
4. Abd Allah.
5. Al-Harith.
6. Abd Shams.
7. Abd al-Muttalib, who narrated hadith from Muhammad and settled in Syria.
8. Umayya.
9. Another son, variously named Adam, Tammam or Iyas, the victim of the bloodwit case.
10. Arwa "the Elder", from whom Rabi'ah took his kunya Abu Arwa.

Conversion to Islam

It is said that Rabi'ah did not fight at the Battle of Badr in 624 because he was in Syria at the time.

In 627, at the time of the Battle of the Trench, he converted to Islam and emigrated to Medina.

Bloodwit case

Rabi'ah's son Adam was a small child living with a foster-mother from the Bakr tribe. The Bakr were at war with the Hudhayl. Adam crept out in front of the tents and was caught in the cross-fire of the battle. A rock thrown by a Hudhayl man hit and crushed his head, which killed him.

Rabi'ah intended to demand blood-money or a counter-killing from the Hudhayl for the death of his son. Before this could happen, Muhammad conquered Mecca. On that day Muhammad cancelled all bloodwit debts and he specifically named Rabi'ah's case as the first to be cancelled. However, Ibn Ishaq asserts that the cancellation was declared two years later, at the Farewell Pilgrimage of 632.

Hence Muhammad prevented Rabi'ah from claiming revenge from the killer.

Later life

Rabī'ah and his brother Abū Sufyān were among the ten people who did not flee in the Battle of Hunayn.

He is involved in the Hadith of the ten promised paradise.

Rabi'ah died after 636 but before 644.

References

References

1. Other transliterations include "Rabah ibn al-Harith"
2. [https://islamweb.net/ar/library/index.php?page=bookcontents&ID=54&idfrom=58&idto=58&flag=0&bk_no=60&ayano=0&surano=0&bookhad=0 Al-Dhahabi, ''Siyar Aʿlam al-Nubalaʾ'', Islamweb edition (archived 19 April 2017)]
3. [https://shamela.ws/browse.php/book-9767/page-1075 Ibn Hajar, ''al-Isaba fi Tamyiz al-Sahaba'', vol. 3, p. 1075] (archived 19 April 2017)
4. [https://shamela.ws/browse.php/book-1686/page-1165 Ibn Saʿd, ''al-Tabaqat al-Kubra'', vol. 4, p. 1165] (archived 20 December 2016)
5. [https://shamela.ws/browse.php/book-1110/page-1726 Ibn al-Athir, ''Usd al-Ghabah fi Maʿrifat al-Sahabah'', vol. 2, p. 1726] (archived 19 April 2017)
6. [https://shamela.ws/browse.php/book-1686/page-1164 Ibn Saʿd, ''al-Tabaqat al-Kubra'', vol. 4, p. 1164] (archived 20 December 2016)
7. Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari. ''Tarikh al-Rusul wa'l-Muluk''. Translated by Landau-Tasseron, E. (1998). ''Volume 39: Biographies of the Prophet's Companions and Their Successors''. Albany: State University of New York Press.
8. Muhammad ibn Saad. ''Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir''. Translated by Bewley, A. (1995). ''The Women of Madina''. London: Ta-Ha Publishers.
9. Muhammad ibn Ishaq. ''Sirat Rasul Allah''. Translated by Guillaume, A. (1955). ''The Life of Muhammad''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.