Waraqah ibn Nawfal

Hadith traditions

Witness to Muhammad

When told of Muhammad's first revelation (which is understood to be Sura 96:1-5), Waraqah said his call to prophecy was authentic. Tradition recounts Waraqah saying: "There has come to him the greatest Law that came to Moses; surely he is the prophet of this people".

Two different narrations from Aisha give these details.

Poems

Some poems have been reported to be composed by Waraqah for his companion Zayd ibn Amr bin Nufayl.

You have escaped Hell's burning oven

by serving the one and only God

and abandoning vain idols ...

for the mercy of God reaches men

though they be seventy valleys deep below the earth. }}

Persecution of Bilal

Once in the heat of the day Waraqah passed an open valley, where Umayyah ibn Khalaf was forcing his slave Bilal ibn Rabah to lie with a large rock on his chest until he denied his faith and worshipped Al-Lat and Al-‘Uzzá. Bilal kept insisting, "One, one!" i.e., there was only one God. Waraqah joined, "One, one, by God, Bilal!" He then protested against the abuse, telling Umayyah and his clan: "I swear by God that if you kill him in this way, I will make his tomb a shrine." Umayyah took no notice.

Ibn Kathir doubts this tradition because the persecution of the Muslims only began several years after Waraqah's death. However, Sprenger points out that Bilal, being ancestrally Abyssinian, might have been Christian before he was a Muslim, though Bilal was taken from his parents at an early age. It is possible that Umayyah was persecuting him for this reason before 610. In that case, the story that Waraqah tried to help his co-coreligionist might be true. On the other hand, there are no sources that identify Bilal as a Christian, on the contrary, he, before becoming a Muslim renounced his idol worship, hinting that Bilal was a polytheist before he converted early on to Islam. Furthermore, Bilal was one of the first converts to Islam.

Legacy

Muhammad said of Waraqah: "Do not slander Waraqah ibn Nawfal, for I have seen that he will have one or two gardens in Paradise."

Khadija told Muhammad that Waraqah "believed in you, but he died before your advent."

Muhammad added: "I saw him in a dream, and upon him were white garments. If he were among the inhabitants of the Fire then he would have been wearing other than that."

In popular culture

• Syrian actor Rafiq Subaie played the role of Waraqah bin Nawfal in Omar (TV series).

References

References

1. (10 January 2009). "Sahih Bukhari".
2. Muhammad ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' vol. 1. Translated by Haq, S. M. ''Ibn Sa'd's Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir'', p. 54. Delhi: Kitab Bhavan.
3. (2012). "Encyclopedia of Islam". Brill.
4. ''Encyclopedia of Islam'', Online ed., "Waraqah bin. Nawfal".
5. Ibn Ishaq/Guillaume p. 107.
6. Bukhari 4:55:605.
7. Bukhari 1:1:3. See also Bukhari 4:55:605; Bukhari 9:87:111; Muslim 1:301.
8. Muhammad ibn Ishaq. ''Sirat Rasul Allah''. Translated by Guillaume, A. (1955). ''The Life of Muhammad''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.{{Page needed. (November 2024)
9. Ibn Ishaq/Guillaume pp. 143-144.
10. Ismail ibn Umar ibn Kathir. ''Al-Sira al-Nabawiyya''. Translated by Le Gassick, T. (1998). ''The Life of the Prophet Muhammad'', vol. 1 p. 357. Reading, U.K.: Garnet Publishing.
11. Sprenger, A. (1851). ''The Life of Mohammad, from Original Sources'', pp. 161-162. Allahabad: The Presbyterian Mission Press.
12. Saad, Ibn. "At Tabaqat Al Kubra".
13. (30 December 2010). "Janeh, Sabarr. Learning from the Life of Prophet Muhammad: Peace and Blessing of God Be upon Him, 2010. pp. 235-238". Trafford.
14. "Sodiq, Yushau. Insider's Guide to Islam. Bloomington, Indiana: Trafford, 2011. Print.".
15. Saheeh al-Jaami as-Sagger, 6/1534, no. 7197
16. Tirmidhi 4:8:2288.