Zayd ibn Harithah Accepts Islam

Ibn Ishaq said: Zayd ibn Harithah ibn Shurahbil ibn Ka‘b ibn ‘Abd al-‘Uzza ibn Imri’ al-Qays al-Kalbi, the Messenger’s freedman, accepted Islam. He was the first male to do so after ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib.

Ibn Hisham gives Zayd’s full lineage through Kalb and records variant forms of one ancestor’s name. Hakim ibn Hizam returned from Syria with enslaved people, among them Zayd, then a young boy. Zayd’s mother, Su‘da bint Tha‘labah of Tayy’, had taken him to visit his family when horsemen from Banu al-Qayn ibn Jasr seized him and sold him at the Hubashah market. Khadijah, then married to the Messenger, visited her nephew Hakim. He invited her to choose one of the boys as a gift; she chose Zayd. The Messenger asked her to give Zayd to him, and she did. He freed Zayd and adopted him, before revelation began.

The copies differ over Zayd’s ancestor’s name. The editor explains that Zayd’s mother had taken him to visit his family when he was captured and sold; he was about eight years old. Hubashah was one of the Arabs’ marketplaces.

Zayd’s father, Harithah, was overcome with grief and wept for him: “I wept for Zayd, not knowing what had become of him: is he alive, so that he may be hoped for, or has death overtaken him? By Allah, I do not know, though I keep asking: did the plain destroy you, or the mountain? I wish I knew whether you might someday return; of this world, your return to me would suffice. The sun reminds me of him at its rising, and his memory comes to mind when it sets. When the winds blow, they stir his remembrance; how long my grief and fear for him endure! I will urge my camels across the land with all my strength and will not tire of travelling, nor let the camels tire, for as long as I live or death comes to me; every person will perish, even if hope deceives him.”

Harithah later came to the Messenger, who told Zayd that he could stay or go with his father. Zayd chose to remain with the Messenger. He stayed with him until Allah sent him as a Prophet; Zayd affirmed him and accepted Islam.

The commentary explains the poem’s terms for being destroyed, enough, sunset, the winds, fear, and the swift pace of camels. Al-Suhayli records additional lines in which Harithah entrusts Zayd to his relatives. Another report gives a verse attributed to Zayd expressing longing for his family. The variants are preserved as reports rather than merged into the poem.