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Abu Ayyub al-Ansari

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Khālid b. Zayd b. Kulayb b. al-Najjār (Arabic:خالد بن زید بن کُلَیب بن النجّار) known as Abū Ayyūb al-Anṣārī (Arabic: أبو أيوب الأنصاري) (d. 52/672) was among the companions of the Prophet (s) and Imam Ali (a). He participated in the Second Pledge of al-'Aqaba and the Prophet (s) lived in his house after he (s) immigrated to Medina. Abu Ayyub participated in the battles of the time of the Prophet (s) and Imam Ali (a). After death of 'Uthman, Abu Ayyub was among the first people who gave allegiance to Imam Ali (a). Sunni scholars regard him as reliable, but Shi'a scholars have sufficed to praising him.

Abu Ayyub al-Ansari
Grave of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari in Istanbul
Grave of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari in Istanbul
Personal Information
Full NameKhalid b. Zayd b. Kulayb b. al-Najjar
TeknonymAbu Ayyub
LineageKhazraj
Well-Known RelativesSa'd b. Qays b. 'Amr b. Imru' al-Qays, Zayd b. Thabit
Muhajir/AnsarAnsar
Place(s) of ResidenceMedina
Death/Martyrdom52/672
Cause of Death/Martyrdomillness
Burial PlaceIstanbul
Religious Information
Known forHost of the Prophet (s) in Medina, companion of Imam 'Ali (a)

Lineage

The lineage of Khalid b. Zayd b. Kulayb b. al-Najjar whose teknonym was Abu Ayyub reaches Najjar who was from Khazraj tribe. His mother was the daughter of Sa'd b. Qays b. 'Amr b. Imru' al-Qays and his wife was the daughter of Zayd b. Thabit.[1] According to Ibn Sa'd,[2] Abu Ayyub had a son called 'Abd al-Rahman who had no children.

Important Events of His Life

Participation in the Second Pledge of al-'Aqaba

Abu Ayyub was among the 70 people who gave allegiance to the Prophet (s) that they would not abandon his support.[3] Nasr b. Muzahim considered Abu Ayyub among the elders of Helpers and the Shia of Imam Ali (a).[4]

The number of hadiths attributed to Abu Ayyub reaches 150, but al-Bukhari and Muslim have only approved of seven hadiths from him.[5]

Host of the Prophet (s)

What made Abu Ayyub grand in the eyes of Muslims, was going of the Prophet (s) to his house upon his arrival to Medina, regardless of others' insistence. Thus, historians have mentioned his name as the host of the Prophet (s).[6] According to al-Baladhuri,[7] the Prophet (s) resided in his house for seven months, until al-Masjid al-Nabawi and the Prophet's (s) own house were built up. Al-Mas'udi[8] has reported this period one month.

Defender of the Succession of Ali (a)

After the demise of the Holy Prophet (s), Abu Ayyub and eleven other companions, defended the succession of Ali b. Abi Talib (a).[9] Therefore, Ibn Athir regarded him among the close companions of Imam Ali (a).[10]

In the Group of the Compilers of the Qur'an

Al-Bukhari[11] considered him among the five from Helpers who tried to compile the Qur'an at the time of the Holy Prophet (s).

Participating in Ghazawat (Battles of the Prophet (s))

Abu Ayyub participated in all the battles of the Prophet (s) and historians have considered him among the participants of Badr, Uhud and Khandaq battles.[12] Only once because the commander of Muslims' army was a young man, he refrained to participate in the battle and was always remorseful about it.[13]

Through historical texts, his obedience, loyalty and his great reverence for the Prophet (s) is manifested.[14] According to Ibn Hisham,[15] he was pioneer in expelling the hypocrites who mocked Muslims in al-Masjid al-Nabawi and some of them were his own relatives. According to some haidths, a verse of the Qur'an[16] in the event of Ifk praises Abu Ayyub and his wife.[17]

Participating in the Siege of the House of 'Uthman

Upon the siege of the house of 'Uthman by the dissidents, Muslims performed the prayer in the mosque of Medina led by Abu Ayyub[18] and he was among the witnesses in front of whom 'Uthman promised that he would thereafter act according to the Book of God and the conduct of the Prophet (s).[19]

Participating in the Battles at the Time of Imam Ali (a)

Abu Ayyub participated in all battles Imam Ali (a) engaged in,[20]22 but Ibn Sa'd mentioned only Nahrawan,[21] and al-Waqidi mentioned Siffin.[22] Everyone has mentioned extraordinary braveries of Abu Ayyub.[23] In the Battle of Nahrawan, Ali (a) assigned him as the commander of the horsemen and before beginning of the war, sent him to negotiate with and advise Khawarij.[24]

The Governor of Medina Assigned by Imam Ali (a)

After Nahrawan, he was assigned by Imam Ali (a) as the governor of Medina,[25] but after Mu'awiya sent Busr b. Abi Artat with 3000 soldiers to Hijaz in 40/660-61, Abu Ayyub left Medina and joined Ali (a) in Iraq. After invading Medina and taking the city, Busr burned Abu Ayyub's house.[26]

Participating in the Battle against Romans

After the martyrdom of Ali (a), Abu Ayyub once again went to the borders for war. Al-Tabari[27] has reported that in 49/669-70, Yazid b. Mu'awiya moved to war with Romans and took the old Abu Ayyub with himself.

Demise

Abu Ayyub passed away in 52/672 due to illness while Constantinople was besieged by Muslims.[28] According to some reports, he passed away in 50/670-1 or 51/671-2.[29]

In deathbed, Abu Ayyub made a will to Yazid who had come to visit him, "when I die, take my body as forth as you have moved in the land of the enemy and bury me there."[30] According to another report, he said, "I heard from the Prophet (s) that a righteous man will be buried at the feet of the wall of Constantinople, I hope it will be me.”[31]

After the demise of Abu Ayyub, Yazid prayed upon his body and ordered that they bury him at the feet of the wall of Constantinople;[32] then, according to some reports, he ordered the horsemen to trample the burial ground and make it disappear so that the enemy would not be able to find his grave.[33]

Visiting his Grave by Muslims and Romans

Ibn Sa'd reported[34] that his grave was so much respected by the Romans that some of them visited his grave especially at the time of drought and asked for rain. According to Ibn 'Abd Rabbih,[35] later a mausoleum was built upon his grave which still existed at his time.

Since then until 857/1453-4 when Ottoman Turks took Constantinople, his grave was unknown. At that time, his grave was identified mysteriously by Aq Shams al-Din Shaykh al-Islam. In 863/1458-9, the Ottoman Sultan Muhammad II built the Ayyub Sultan Mosque and a shrine upon his grave. Afterwards, many Ottoman elders were buried beside him and as a formal tradition, Ottoman kings visited his grave upon sitting on the throne and in a special ceremony tied their forefather's sword on their waist which was known as the Ottoman Sword.[36]

Also, the house of Abu Ayyub in Medina was always respected by Muslims, so that a school for the four schools was built there which was known as Shihabiyya and there, the place where the camel of the Prophet (s) sat was marked as Mabruka and was visited by people to receive blessings.

Narrators from Abu Ayyub

Among those who have narrated from him, people including Ibn Abbas, Bura' b. 'Azib, Jabir b. Samura, Miqdam b. Mu'addi Karb, Abu Imama al-Bahili, Zayd b. Khalid al-Juhani and some other Companions have been mentioned.

Some of the Followers (Tabi'un) such as Sa'id b. Musayyib and 'Urwa b. al-Zubayr and 'Abd Allah b. Hunayn have heard hadiths from him and quoted them. Ibn Sa'd[37] and al-Mizzi[38] have also mentioned a list of those who have narrated from him.

Deeming him Reliable or Praising him

Abu Ayyub have been praised by all Sunni scholars of rijal and some have also regarded him reliable,[39] but Shia scholars have only praised him and have avoided expressly regarding him reliable;[40] even Ibn Dawud al-Hilli have mentioned him among Muhmalin[41] [In rijali books, it is referred to a group of hadith transmitters who are either praised or not have been blamed].

Shia scholars of rijal have different opinions regarding justification of his participation in the battle with polytheists under the command of Mu'awiya and Yazid regardless of his firm advocacy of the right of Imam Ali (a)'s caliphate. Fadl b. Shadhan considered this act of him negligence and mistake in judgment and added that even though he was not happy with his contemporary caliph, he participated in the wars having the intention of advancing and supporting Islam[42] and the proof for this claim is that there were disputes between him and Mu'awiya;[43] however, rejecting this opinion, Ayatollah al-Khoei[44] deemed it possible that he acted so with respect to a permission from Imam al-Hasan (a).

Abu Ayyub was also considered a powerful poet.[45] It is possible that calling him poet was because of the poems he composed in the Battle of Siffin and also later in replying to the letter of Mu'awiya.[46]

Notes

  1. ↑ Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā, vol. 3, p. 484; Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Istīʿāb, vol. 2, p. 242.
  2. ↑ Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā, vol. 3, p. 484.
  3. ↑ Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā, vol. 3, p. 484; Ibn al-Athīr, Usd al-ghāba, vol. 2, p. 80.
  4. ↑ Naṣr b. Muzāhim, Waqʿat Ṣiffīn, p. 366.
  5. ↑ Nawawī, Tahdhīb al-ʾasmāʾ wa al-lughāt, vol. 1, p. 177.
  6. ↑ Ibn Hishām, al-Sīra al-nabawīyya, vol. 2, p. 141; Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā, vol. 3, p. 484.
  7. ↑ Balādhurī, Futūḥ al-buldān, p. 20.
  8. ↑ Masʿūdī, Murūj al-dhahab, vol. 2, p. 280.
  9. ↑ Barqī, Kitāb al-Rijāl, p. 63-66.
  10. ↑ Ibn al-Athīr, Usd al-ghāba, vol. 5, p. 143.
  11. ↑ Bukhārī, Tārīkh al-ṣaghīr, vol. 1, p. 66.
  12. ↑ Ibn Hishām, al-Sīra al-nabawīyya, vol. 2, p. 100.
  13. ↑ Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā, vol. 3, p. 485.
  14. ↑ Ibn Hishām, al-Sīra al-nabawīyya, vol. 2, p. 144; Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā, vol. 6, p. 126.
  15. ↑ Ibn Hishām, al-Sīra al-nabawīyya, vol. 2, p. 175.
  16. ↑ Qur'an 12:24.
  17. ↑ Ibn Hishām, al-Sīra al-nabawīyya, vol. 3, p. 316; Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī, vol. 2, p. 617.
  18. ↑ Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī, vol. 4, p. 423
  19. ↑ Balādhurī, Ansāb al-ashrāf, vol. 4, p. 553.
  20. ↑ Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Istīʿāb, vol. 2, p. 425; Ibn al-Athīr, al-Kāmil fī l-tārīkh, vol. 3, p. 459.
  21. ↑ Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā, vol. 3, p. 484.
  22. ↑ Ibn Ḥabīb, al-Muḥbir, p. 291.
  23. ↑ Ibn Aʿtham, Kitāb al-Futūḥ, vol. 3, p. 48-50.
  24. ↑ Dīnawarī, al-Akhbār al-ṭiwāl, p. 207, 210.
  25. ↑ Balādhurī, Ansāb al-ashrāf, vol. 2, p. 382.
  26. ↑ Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī, vol. 5, p. 139; Thaqafī, al-Ghārāt, vol. 2, p. 602, 604.
  27. ↑ Ṭabarī, Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī, vol. 5, p. 232.
  28. ↑ Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā, vol. 3, p. 485; Ibn ʿAsākir, al-Tārīkh al-kabīr, vol. 5, p. 37.
  29. ↑ Khalīfa b. Khayyāṭ, Tārīkh-i Khalīfa, vol. 1, p. 202; Masʿūdī, Murūj al-dhahab, vol. 3, p. 24.
  30. ↑ Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā, vol. 8, p. 126.
  31. ↑ Ibn ʿAbd Rabbih, al-ʿIqd al-farīd, vol. 5, p. 116.
  32. ↑ Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā, vol. 8, p. 126.
  33. ↑ Ibn Qutayba al-Dīnawarī, al-Maʿārif, p. 274.
  34. ↑ Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā, vol. 8, p. 126.
  35. ↑ Ibn ʿAbd Rabbih, al-ʿIqd al-farīd, vol. 5, p. 116.
  36. ↑ Ishlī, p. 23-30.
  37. ↑ Ibn Saʿd, al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā, vol. 3, p. 484.
  38. ↑ Mizzī, Tahdhīb al-kamāl, p. 67-68.
  39. ↑ Ibn Ḥibbān, Kitab al-thiqāt, vol. 3, p. 102; Dhahabī, Siyar aʿlām al-nubalāʾ, vol. 2, p. 402; Yafiʿī, Mirʾāt al-jinān, vol. 1, p. 124.
  40. ↑ Ibn Dāwūd al-Ḥillī, Kitāb al-rijāl, p. 392.
  41. ↑ Ibn Dāwūd al-Ḥillī, Kitāb al-rijāl, p. 137.
  42. ↑ Kashshī, Ikhtīyār maʿrifat al-rijāl, vol. 1, p. 177.
  43. ↑ Naṣr b. Muzāhim, Waqʿat Ṣiffīn, p. 366.
  44. ↑ Khoei, Muʿjam rijāl al-ḥadīth, vol. 7, p. 24.
  45. ↑ Amīn, Aʿyān al-Shīʿa, vol. 6, p. 238.
  46. ↑ Ibn Aʿtham, Kitāb al-Futūḥ, vol. 3, p. 48, 49; Ibn Abī l-Ḥadīd, Sharḥ Nahj al-balāgha, vol. 8, p. 44-45.

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