Personalities in Islam

By Abu Tariq Hijazi | 18 May 2013

Shamsuddin Mohammed, “Ibn Battuta”, the great Muslim adventurer of Morocco, was born on 17th of Rajab 703 AH (corresponding to Feb. 24, 1304) to an educated family in Tangier.

Ibn Battuta was the only medieval traveler who is known to have visited the lands of every Muslim ruler of his time. He also traveled to Ceylon, China, Byzantium and south Russia. His travels are estimated to have spanned no less than 75,000 miles, a distance unheard of before the age of engines.

UMMAHAATUL MU'MINEEN (MOTHERS OF THE FAITHFUL) AND CHILDREN OF RASULULLAH (s)

A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE LIVES OF THE WIVES OF SAYYIDUNA RASULULLAH (S).

A. Sayyida KHADIJAH (r)

`Ali ibn Abi Talib `Abd Manaf ibn `Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim ibn `Abd Manaf, Abu al-Hasan al-Qurashi al-Hashimi (d. 40), Amîr al-Mu’minîn, the first male believer in Islam, the Prophet’s standard-bearer in battle, the Door of the City of Knowledge, the most judicious of the Companions, and the "Possessor of a wise heart and enquiring tongue." The Prophet nicknamed him Abu Turâb or Father of Dust. His mother was Fatima bint Asad, whom the Prophet called his own mother and at whose grave he made a remarkable intercession.

`Uthman ibn `Affan ibn Abi al-`As ibn Umayya ibn `Abd Shams, Abu `Amr, Abu `Abd Allah, Abu Layla al-Qurashi al-Umawi (d. 35), the Prophet’s Friend, Amîr al-Mu’minîn, the third of the four Rightly-Guided Successors of the Prophet and third of the Ten promised Paradise. He is named Dhu al-Nûrayn or "Possessing Two Lights," a reference to his marriage with two daughters of the Prophet, Ruqayya then Umm Kulthum. He is among those who emigrated twice: once to Abyssinia, and again to Madina. He gathered together the Qur’an which he had read in its entirety before the Prophet.

`Umar ibn al-Khattab

He, may Allah be pleased with him, was `Umar ibn al-Khattab ibn Nufail ibn `Abdu'l-`Uzza ibn Riyah ibn Qart ibn Razah ibn `Adi ibn Ka`b ibn Lu`ayy, Amir al- Muminin, Abu Hafs, al-Qurashi, al-`Adawi, al-Faruq.

He accepted Islam in the sixth year of prophecy when he was twenty-seven years old, says adh-Dhahabi.

`Umar ibn al-Khattab ibn Nufayl ibn `Abd al-`Uzza ibn Rayyah, Shaykh al-Islam, Amir al-Mu’minin, Abu Hafs al-Qurashi al-`Adawi al-Faruq (d. 23).

Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, `Atiq ibn Abi Quhafa, Shaykh al-Islam, `Abd Allah ibn `Uthman ibn `Amir al-Qurashi al-Taymi (d. 13), the Prophet’s intimate friend after Allah, exclusive companion at the Prophet’s Basin (hawd) and in the Cave, greatest supporter, closest confidant, first spiritual inheritor, first of the men who believed in him and the only one who did so unhesitatingly, first of his four Rightly-Guided successors, first of the ten promised Paradise, and first of the Prophet’s Community to enter Paradise.

Nuh Keller was born in 1954 and raised as a Roman Catholic in rural Washington State. He is a third-generation American of German ancestry on his father’s side, and German, Scottish, and Irish on his mother’s. During the 1970’s and 1980’s between his academic studies and work as a commercial fisherman in the North Pacific, he underwent a journey of reflection that culminated in his becoming Muslim. Nearly three decades later, he has become one of the most authoritative voices of traditional, moderate Islam in the English-speaking world.

Said ibn Zayd R.A.

Zayd the son of Amr stood away from the Quraysh crowd as they celebrated one of their festivals. Men were dressed in rich turbans of brocade and expensive Yemeni burdabs. Women and children were also exquisitely turned out in their fine clothes and glittering jewelry. Zayd watched as sacrificial animals, gaily caparisoned were led out to slaughter before the Quraysh idols. It was difficult for him to remain silent. Leaning against a wall of the Kabah, he shouted:

Abu Hurayrah
Compiled by Abu Rumaysah

"`An Abi Hurayrata, radiyallahu `anhu, qal.
qala rasul Allahi, sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam..."

Through this phrase millions of Muslims from the early history of Islâm to the present have come to be familiar with the name Abu Hurayrah. In speeches and lectures, in Friday khutbahs and seminars, in the books of hadith and seerah, fiqh and `ibadah, the name Abu Hurayrah is mentioned in this fashion: