Usamah bin Zaid

Usamah ibn Zayd ibn Haritha al-Kalbi, may Allah be pleased with him, was the son of Zayd ibn Haritha, the freed slave and adopted son of the Prophet ﷺ, and was himself deeply and personally beloved by the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ called him 'Hibb Rasulillah wa ibn Hibb Rasulillah' — the beloved of the Messenger of Allah and the son of the beloved — a title that captures the extraordinary closeness of both father and son to the Prophet ﷺ. He grew up in the Prophet's ﷺ household and the Prophet ﷺ would carry him and his grandson al-Hasan on his knees together. In the final days of the Prophet's ﷺ life, the Prophet ﷺ appointed Usamah, then approximately eighteen or nineteen years old, to lead a military expedition to Syria — an appointment that demonstrated the Prophet's ﷺ trust and his principle that competence, not age, determines leadership. He narrated numerous hadiths from the Prophet ﷺ about faith, conduct, prayer, and the prophetic character. His reports appear in all six major hadith collections. He lived in Medina and later Wadi al-Qura and passed away around 54–59 AH.