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The little known stories of Sahabas (Companions of Prophet Mohammad (pbuh)

Thumamah Ibn Uthal (RA)

The Talbiyah

Have you wondered who was the first ever Muslim on the face of the earth to enter Makkah reciting the Talbiyah?

He was Thumamah Ibn Uthal (Radiyallahu Anhu)

Thumamah was a leader in the province of Al Yamamah, a region close to the modern day Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.

He was a very influential man, but was “once” amongst those great enemies of Islam who wanted to kill the Prophet Mohammad ﷺ, but when he lost his way to Makkah, things changed

The story of a man captured and tied to a column of the Prophet Masjid is well known to all. That man was no other than Thumamah (RA) who was an enemy of Islam at that time. He had set out to Makkah for pilgrimage in the pagan way.

He was approached by Prophet Mohammad ﷺ for two days, given food, drink and milk. He was tied to the pillar but treated kindly by the Prophet, who approached him daily asking how he was.

 Prophet Mohammad ﷺ asked his sahaba’s (companions) to free Thumamah on the third day. Impressed and inspired by the behavior of Prophet and his sahaba’s he accepted Islam immediately.Thumamah left to fulfill his intention of doing Umrah, but now as a Muslim

When he reached the valley of Makkah, he began shouting the Talbiyah 

لَبَّيْكَ اللَّهُمَّ لَبَّيْكَ، لَبَّيْكَ لَا شَرِيكَ لَكَ لَبَّيْكَ، انَّالْحَمْدَ، وَالنِّعْمَةَ، لَكَ وَالْمُلْكَ، لا شَرِيكَ لَكَ

Labbayk Allaahumma labbayk, labbayk laa shareeka laka labbayk, ‘innal-hamda, wanni’mata, laka walmulk, laa shareeka laka.

The Quraysh were shocked to hear this, with swords drawn they set out to punish the one who had assaulted their preserve but as they came closer they found out it was Thumamah(RA) 

One of the young Quraish was so angered that he was about to throw an arrow at Thumamah (RA) but was grabbed by the another man and was told he was the ruler of Al Yamamah and they should not harm him, as this will cause a cut off in their supplies from Yamamah with dire consequences.

They instead asked Thumamah(RA) why he abandoned the religion of his forefathers to which Thumamah (RA) said that he had decided to follow the “truthful and best religion”

So Thumamah (RA) became the first Muslim to recite the “Talbiyah” loud and perform the Umrah as instructed by Prophet Mohammad ﷺ 

He returned to his land and ordered his people to withhold supplies to Quraysh.

Excerpts taken from: (Stories of the Sahabah)

Sahih Al Bukhari 4372; As Sirat Al Nabawiyyah Ibn Hisham; Fath Al Bari 8/109-111