Thābit ibn Qays ibn Shammās al-Ḥārithī al-Khazrajī (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: ثابت بن قيس بن شماس الحارثي الخزرجي) was a

companion of Muhammad The Companions of the Prophet () were the Muslim disciples and followers of the Islamic prophet Muhammad who saw or met him during his lifetime. The companions played a major role in Muslim battles, society, hadith narration, and governance ...

, who served as one of his orators and

scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of Printing press, automatic printing. The work of scribes can involve copying manuscripts and other texts as well as ...

s, and a leader of the Ansar, the natives of Medina who gave Muhammad safe haven in their city and were among the earliest converts to Islam. Following the Muslim victory at Battle of Dhu al-Qassah at the beginning of the

Ridda wars The Ridda Wars were a series of military campaigns launched by the first caliph Abu Bakr against rebellious Arabian tribes, some of which were led by rival prophet claimants. They began shortly after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in ...

in 632, Caliph

Abu Bakr Abd Allah ibn Abi Quhafa (23 August 634), better known by his ''Kunya (Arabic), kunya'' Abu Bakr, was a senior Sahaba, companion, the closest friend, and father-in-law of Muhammad. He served as the first caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, ruli ...

appointed Thabit commander of the Ansarite troops. He was placed under the overall command of

Khalid ibn al-Walid Khalid ibn al-Walid ibn al-Mughira al-Makhzumi (; died 642) was a 7th-century Arabs, Arab military commander. He initially led campaigns against Muhammad on behalf of the Quraysh. He later became a Muslim and spent the remainder of his career ...

. He participated in the subsequent battles of Buzakha (632) against the Asad and Ghatafan nomads under

Tulayha Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid ibn Nawfal al-Asadi () was a wealthy Arab clan chief and military commander during the time of Muhammad; he belonged to the Banu Asad ibn Khuzaymah tribe. In 625 he was defeated in the Expedition of Qatan, a Muslim expedi ...

and Aqraba (633) against the sedentary

Hanifa Hanifa (حنيفة) is an Arabic given name, the feminine form of Hanif, which means "incline" (to the right religion, i.e. Islam). It may refer to: * Abu Hanifa (699–767), founder of Hanafi The Hanafi school or Hanafism is the oldest and la ...

tribe under

Musaylima Musaylima (), d.632, was a claimant of prophethood from the Banu Hanifa tribe. Based from Diriyah in present day Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, he claimed to be a prophet and was an enemy of Islam in 7th-century Arabia. He was a leader of the enemies of I ...

. At Aqraba he recommended to Khalid that the exclusion of nomad contingents in their army as he blamed them for the repeated, failed attempts to overcome the Hanifa warriors. Khalid accepted this counsel and the Muslims afterward routed and killed Musaylima, and Thabit was killed during fight in the

Battle of Yamama The Battle of Yamama was fought in December 632 as part of the Ridda Wars against a rebellion within the Rashidun Caliphate in the region of al-Yamama (in present-day Saudi Arabia, South of Riyadh City) between the forces of Abu Bakr and Musay ...

. Alternatively,

Chinese Muslims The Hui people are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the northwestern provinces and in the Zhongyuan region. According to the ...

hold that he was involved in the introduction of

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

during the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

period when he reached China over land and died of in the western Chinese province of

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

Divorce

It is said in a narration his wife, Jameelah bint Abdillāh ibn Ubayy ibn Salool asked for divorce and they got divorced after that. Ibn ‘Abbās said: The wife of Thābit ibn Qays came to Muhammad and said: This is the first hadeeth quoted by Al-Hāfidh Ibn Hajr (d. 852H) in his Buloogh Al-Marām, Chapter of Khula’ (باب الخلع). Amr ibn Shu’ayb reported from his father, from his grandfather that Thābit ibn Qays was unattractive and his wife said: ''“If it was not for the fear of Allah, when Thābit entered in my presence, I would have spat in his face.”'' (Ibn Mājah, 2057 and declared weak by Al-Albāni) Also, Ahmad reported in his Musnad (16095) from Sahl ibn Abee Hathmah that: ''“This was the first Khula’ in Islam.”''

Promise of Paradise

It is reported He was promised Paradise. Sahih al-Bukhari 3613 Narrated Anas bin Malik: The Prophet (ﷺ) noticed the absence of Thabit bin Qais. A man said, "O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)! I shall bring you his news." So he went to him and saw him sitting in his house drooping his head (sadly). He asked Thabit, "What's the matter?" Thabit replied, "An evil situation: A man used to raise his voice over the voice of the Prophet (ﷺ) and so all his good deeds have been annulled and he is from the people of Hell." The man went back and told the Prophet (ﷺ) that Thabit had said so-and-so. (The sub-narrator, Musa bin Anas said, "The man went to Thabit again with glad tidings)." The Prophet (ﷺ) said to him, "Go and say to Thabit: 'You are not from the people of Fire, but from the people of Paradise."

The title of Khatib of Islam

The title "Khatib-e-Islam" was first used for Thabit bin Qais Ansari , who used to attend various meetings as a representative of Muhammmad. He was also remembered by the titles of Khatib-ul-Ansar and Khatib-e-Rasool-e-Karim.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thabit ibn Qays Companions of the Prophet Ansar (Islam) People of the Ridda Wars