Nadr ibn al-Harith
Al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAlqama ibn Kalada ibn ʿAbd Manāf ibn Abd al-Dār ibn Quṣayy (Arabic: النضر إبن الحارث, d. 624 CE) was an Arab pagan physician who is considered one of the greatest Qurayshi opponents to the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He was captured after the Battle of Badr as one of the pagan fighters and flag-bearers. He was sentenced to death for his participation and persecution of Muhammed and Muslims in Mecca.[1] The execution was conducted by Ali by beheading him in front of Muhammad and his companions at as-Safra' before they had returned to Medina from the battle.
According to the Sīrah, two captives, al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith and ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ, were executed during this event, the former by Ali and the latter by Asim ibn Thabit. According to Professor Sarah Bowen Savant, the event is claimed to have inspired Nadr's sister, Qutayla ukht al-Nadr, to compose an elegy on his death, upbraiding Muhammad for the execution.[2]
Life
[edit]During the Meccan period, Nadr ibn alharits was known as one of the authors a document advocating for the boycott of the small Muslim community by withholding the sale of any goods, effectively leading to their starvation.[3] He is also considered one of the greatest opponents to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his message during the Meccan era, and a propeller of their persecution.[1] Per Islamic traditionalists like Muqatil ibn Sulayman, Al-Nadr had also accused Muhammad of plagiarism in his Quranic verses based on the stories of ancient people.
Al-Nadr was captured after the Battle of Badr after his army was defeated in their offensive and was executed for his participation and involvements in Meccan persecutions. Mohar Ali also names Al-Nadr as one of the assassins who tried to kill Muhammad before he migrated to Medina. British Orientalist David Samuel Margoliouth, however, claims that he was executed for his challenge and ridiculing Muhammad, and that this version is supported by some ninth and tenth-century Muslim sources, including al-Tabari, who cites an oral report of Muhammad justifying his order on the basis of Nadr accusing him.[4] Al-Waqidi mentions a report that when Nadr asked the Muslims why he was to be executed, they replied that it was for his persecuting and torturing the Muslim as well as ridiculing the Quran.[5][6]
Quran verse about the beheading of an-Nadir bin al-Harith
[edit]In Ibn Kathir's book "Tafsir Ibn Kathir", he claims in his tafsir that the verse Quran 8:31 was revealed about Nadir bin al-Harith, despite no direct mention of him or his execution in the Quran itself. Ibn Kathir's commentary on Quran 8:31 and Quran 8:5 is as follows:[7][8]
An-Nadr visited Persia and learned the stories of some Persian kings, such as Rustum and Isphandiyar. When he went back to Makkah, he found that the Prophet was reciting the ayats of Qur'an sent from Allah to the people. Whenever the Prophet would leave an audience in which an-Nadr was sitting, an-Nadr began narrating to them the stories that he learned in Persia, proclaiming afterwards, Who, by Allah, has better tales to narrate, I or Muhammad. When Allah allowed the Muslims to capture an-Nadr in Badr, the Messenger of Allah commanded that his head be cut off before him, and that was done, all thanks are due to Allah. The meaning of,
(...tales of the ancients)
[Tafsir Ibn Kathir, on Quran 8:31]
In addition, the actual execution and death of, the Prophet's nemesis, al-Nadr bin al-Harith, is attested to in the Sunnah Hadith tradition;
"She told [9] that when God’s Messenger took prisoners of the people at Badr, he killed ‘Uqba b. Aba Mu'ait and an-Nadr ibn al-Harith, but showed favour to Abu ‘Azza al-Jumahi." (It is transmitted in Sharh as Sunna) [Mishkat al-Masabih, Hadith No. 3971][10]
Quran 70:1-"A questioner"
[edit]According to several highly regarded tasfirs, al-Nadr ibn al-Harith, is described in Surah Al-Maʻārij (Arabic: المعارج, “The Ascents”)[Quran 70:1-3] as;
"A questioner asked about a Penalty to befall, The Unbelievers, the which there is none to ward off, (A Penalty) from Allah, Lord of the Ways of Ascent..." [Quran 70:1-3][11]
In the commentary (tasfir), of ibn Abbas (Tanwir al-Miqbas min Tafsir ibn Abbas), al-Nadr ibn al-Harith, is specifically named as being, this particular, "A questioner". Thus, he is portrayed as a fierce, unrelenting, critic and a challenger to the Prophet Muhammad, and the Quran, during the Prophet's early Meccan ministry;
"And from his narration on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas that he said regarding the interpretation of Allah's saying (A questioner questioned): '(A questioner questioned) a caller: i.e. al-Nadr Ibn al-Harith, called (concerning the doom about to fall upon the disbelievers) while he is himself a disbeliever, (which none can repel) and so he was killed in captivity on the Day of Badr."[12]
Al-Nadr bin al Harith, is also described as being the "a petitioner"/"a supplicator" of Quran 70:1, by the commentary Tafsir al-Jalalayn:[13]
"A petitioner petitioned, a supplicator supplicated [for], an impending chastisement— which in the case of the disbelievers none can avert: this was al-Nadr b. al-Hārith, who [also] said, ‘O God, if this be indeed the truth from You …then rain down upon us stones from the heaven’ [Q. 8:32]."[14]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b Al-Mubarakpuri, Safi-Ur-Rahman (2015). The Sealed Nectar (Ar-Raheeq Al-mMakhtum): Biography of the Noble prophet (Revised ed.). Darussalam Publications. p. 274. ISBN 978-1591440710.
- ^ Sarah Bowen Savant, The New Muslims of Post-Conquest Iran: Tradition, Memory and Conversion (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), p. 176. E.g. Ibn Khallikan's Biographical Dictionary, trans. by Bn Mac Guckin de Slane, Oriental Translation Fund (Series), 57, 4 vols (Paris: Printed for the Oriental translation fund of Great Britain and Ireland, 1842-71), I 372.
- ^ Ibn Kathir. Bidaya Wa Nihaya. Translated by Le Gassick, Trevor (Volume 2 ed.). pp. 30–31.
- ^ Sarah Boven Savant (30 September 2013). The New Muslims of Post-Conquest Iran: Tradition, Memory, and Conversion. Cambridge University Press. pp. 174, 175. ISBN 978-1107292314.
- ^ Rizwi Faizer (5 September 2013). The Life of Muhammad: Al-Waqidi's Kitab Al-Maghazi. Routledge. pp. 53, 54. ISBN 978-1136921148.
- ^ Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Islamic economics, Volume 3. al-Majlis al-'Ilmī bi-Jāmi'at al-Malik 'Abd al-'Azīz. p. 106.
- ^ Quran 8:31 and Quran 8:5
- ^ Muhammad Saed Abdul-Rahman, The Meaning and Explanation of the Glorious Qur'an (Vol 3) 2nd Edition, p. 412, ISBN 1861797699, MSA Publication Limited, 2009. (online)
- ^ Arabic وَعَنْهَا:, Lit. "on her authority:"-The record is not clear as to who exactly "She" is, however, the prior Mishkat al-Masabih Hadith, No. 3970, is on the authority of Muhammad's youngest wife, ‘A’isha, and thus she is the natural choice, for any speculation, regarding any purported origins of this Hadith.
- ^ Mishkat al-Masabih, Hadith No. 3971, or In-book reference: Book No. 19, Hadith No. 183.. "Sharh as Sunna", translates roughly to "Explanations of the Customs"(of the Prophet); https://sunnah.com/mishkat:3971
- ^ The Meaning of the Holy Qu'ran, (formerly titled The Holy Qur'an: Text, Translation and Commentary), translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, 11th Ed., 2006, Amana Publications
- ^ Tanwir al-Miqbas min Tafsir ibn Abbas,on Quran 70:1-2; https://quranx.com/Tafsirs/70.1 & https://quranx.com/Tafsirs/70.2
- ^ Note: The Tafsir al-Jalalayn, is also known as, The Commentary of the Two Jalals
- ^ Tafsir al-Jalalayn, on Quran 70:1-2; https://quranx.com/Tafsirs/70.1 & https://quranx.com/Tafsirs/70.2