Khabbab ibn al-Aratt

Khabbab ibn al-Aratt (c. 586-657 CE) was one of the earliest Muslims and among those who suffered the most severe physical persecution in the early Meccan period. He was a man from the Tamim tribe who had been enslaved and was owned by Umm Anmar al-Khuza'iyyah, a woman of Mecca. When he accepted Islam in the earliest days of the mission, his mistress and her associates subjected him to horrific torture. The most famous account: they would heat iron and press it against his back until his flesh quenched the fire. When he later showed his back to the companions, they said they had never seen anything like it. He came to the Prophet ﷺ while the Prophet was resting in the shade of the Ka'bah, using his cloak as a pillow, and said: 'O Messenger of Allah, won't you pray to Allah for us? Won't you seek help for us?' The Prophet sat up, his face turning red with fervor, and said: 'Among those who came before you, a man would be placed in a ditch, a saw would be placed on his head and he would be sawn in two — yet that would not turn him away from his religion. But you are rushing.' He also told Khabbab that Allah would complete this religion until a rider going from Sana'a to Hadramawt would fear none but Allah and wolves for his sheep — but the people were showing impatience. Despite enduring more physical suffering than almost any other companion, Khabbab lived to see the expansion of Islam across the Arabian peninsula and into Persia and the Byzantine lands. He died in 37 AH in Kufa and is buried there. Ali ibn Abi Talib prayed over him and said: 'May Allah have mercy on Khabbab — he accepted Islam willingly, emigrated obediently, and lived as a mujahid.'