Hadith #596

Arabic Text

English Translation

Ibrāhīm ibn Abī al-ʿAbbās narrated to us, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī al-Zinād narrated to us, from his father who said: A man called Rabīʿah ibn ʿAbbād from the Banū al-Dīl informed me — and he had lived in the Jāhiliyyah — he said: I saw the Prophet ﷺ in the Jāhiliyyah in the market of Dhū al-Majāz, and he was saying, 'O people, say lā ilāha illa Allāh and you will prosper.' The people were gathered around him, and behind him was a man with a radiant face, cross-eyed, with two braids, who was saying, 'He is an apostate, a liar,' following him wherever he went. I asked about him, and they told me the lineage of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and they said to me, 'This is his uncle Abū Lahab.' Surayj narrated to us, Ibn Abī al-Zinād narrated to us, from his father, from Rabīʿah ibn ʿAbbād al-Duʾalī — who had lived in the Jāhiliyyah and then accepted Islam — who said: I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ — and he mentioned the hadith. He said: I asked, 'Who is this?' They said, 'This is Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib,' and he was proclaiming prophethood. I said, 'Who is this one calling him a liar?' They said, 'This is his uncle Abū Lahab.' Abū al-Zinād said: I said to Rabīʿah ibn ʿAbbād, 'You were a small child that day.' He said, 'No, by Allah, that day I was old enough to understand. I was carrying a waterskin on my back.'