Abū Dharr al-Ghifārī
أبو ذر الغفاري
- Dates
- c. 568–652 CE / 54 BH–32 AH
- Relation to the Prophet ﷺ
- Among the five earliest converts — said to be the fifth
The companion who most perfectly lived the austerity the Prophet ﷺ taught. The Prophet ﷺ said: "The earth has not carried anyone, nor the sky shaded anyone, more truthful than Abū Dharr."
Life
Abū Dharr was from the tribe of Ghifār — raiders who lived outside the cities of Arabia. He heard about the Prophet ﷺ in Makkah, travelled there, and proclaimed his conversion in public at the Kaaba, taking a beating from the Qurayshī opposition that nearly killed him.
He became the conscience of the early Muslim community on wealth. He refused to accept gifts beyond his need, publicly criticised rulers who hoarded, and was eventually exiled by ʿUthmān to al-Rabadhah, outside Madinah, where he died alone and was buried by a passing caravan — exactly as he had predicted years earlier, in one of the Prophet's ﷺ prophecies about him.
Passages that mention Abū
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"The hadith of Abu Dharr about attending a scholarly gathering being better than a thousand Raqqas was mentioned, but its authenticity is questioned"
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"fear, hope, poverty, asceticism, love, contentment, longing, reliance, contemplation, and self-accountability."
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"The states we have mentioned, such as repentance, patience, asceticism, fear and hope, are preliminaries"
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"the forebears, it would be for them like slaughter, fearing people might say they abandoned asceticism"
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"He also advised Abu Dharr, There is no intellect like planning, and no nobility like good character."
Also from this generation
- Bilāl ibn Rabāḥ
بلال بن رباح
The first muʾadhdhin in Islam. An African slave whose voice called the community to prayer five times a day in Madinah.
- Salmān al-Fārisī
سلمان الفارسي
The architect of the Trench at the Battle of the Ahzāb — a Persian military tactic introduced to the Arabs for the first time.