The Firsts (Sahaba Stories) | The Forerunners of Islam
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44
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Khawla Bint Hakim & Uthman Ibn Madhun: The Righteous Couple | The Firsts
52
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Al-Shifa bint Abdullah (ra): The Healer and Scholar | The Firsts Shorts
58
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Shurahbil Ibn Hasana (ra): The Scribe and Commander | The Firsts Shorts
125
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Khalid ibn al-Walid (ra): The Legendary Military General | The Firsts
126
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Amr ibn al-As (ra): His Wicked Father and “Better” Brother | The Firsts
146
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid (ra): From False Prophet to Shaheed | The Firsts
147
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Zayd ibn al-Khattab (ra): The Quiet Brother of Omar (ra) | The Firsts
Khunais ibn Hudhafah (ra): The First Husband of Hafsa (ra) | The Firsts Shorts
Khunais ibn Hudhafah (ra) was one of the earliest Muslims who would be the only member of his tribe fighting on the side of the Muslims in the battle of Badr.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh everyone. Welcome back to the first shorts where we are doing some of the shorter biographies of the first Muslims that often don't get spoken about. And so the person that we are covering today, there is no super exciting story about him. There is one about his brother, which inshallah ta'ala we'll talk about next time, which is really profound and beautiful. But subhanAllah, this is a man who is responsible for so much good and who was so early on in Islam and held a prominent position clearly with the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and the early companions. And his name is Khunais Ibn Hudhafa radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu As-Sahmi. He's from the Sahm clan of Quraysh. And Khunais was the older brother of Abdullah and Qais. Abdullah Ibn Hudhafa, who we'll be speaking about next time inshallah ta'ala and Qais. So his younger brothers were very young and he himself was also a young man in his teens at the time of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. His nickname growing up was Abu Hudhafa. The idea was that he himself would one day have a son, which is of course very common and name his son after his father. So Abu Hudhafa Khunais, even though he never had Hudhafa, a son, this is his name in the days of ignorance and in Islam as well. So what we know about him is that he was a young man when he heard the da'wah of Abu Bakr As-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu along with some of his friends. Remember, you know, most of those that accepted Islam early on accepted Islam through the direct da'wah of Abu Bakr As-Siddiq radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. And what we know also is that most of them were very young and he is no exception. But what's very interesting and what's noteworthy about him in this regard is that he is amongst those who embraced Islam before Dar Al-Arqam started. And so he is considered perhaps one of the first 20 people to accept Islam.
Imagine being one of the first 20 people to embrace this religion and your name being completely unknown to the Muslims. Right. How many people have you met named Khunais and how many times have you heard about Khunais radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu? So he embraces Islam and then he goes home and sort of being the elder of his family, he also brings along his two younger brothers who were very young children at the time, Abdullah and Qais to embrace Islam with him. He also brings with him seven of his cousins and four other members of Banu Sahm, of the Sahm clan to embrace Islam. And he takes all of them. He is seen as their head, as their most senior person, at least amongst the Muslims. He takes all of them and he makes hijrah to Abyssinia. So he's from that noble group of people that made hijrah to Abyssinia to escape persecution and to preserve their religion through that migration. Now, when they go to Abyssinia, Khunais radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu is one of those who returns to Mecca after the migration to Abyssinia, and he's offered protection by one of the citizens of Mecca. Now, the person that would offer the hand of his daughter to him is a man who subhanAllah would see through weak character very easily. A man who was divinely inspired by the angels, a man who had a deep sense of perception and a man who sought great religion and character. And that was Umar bin Al-Khattab radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu who offered him the hand of his daughter Hafsa, his one daughter at the time Hafsa radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. Umar radiAllahu Anhu had other daughters later on, way later on in Islam. And in fact, he would name them after the daughters of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam Zayna bin Ruqayya and Fatima. May Allah be pleased with them all. But Hafsa radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu was his oldest daughter and someone that he wanted to have a proper suitor to.
And at that point, Umar radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu is a Muslim, a strong Muslim, and he wants his daughter to be married to one of the first Muslims, one of the earliest batch of those who converted to Islam, someone who demonstrated great faith and great character. And so Khunais marries Hafsa. Khunais himself probably being in his late teens or at this point in his early 20s, Hafsa radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu being about 14 years of age at this time. And of course, at that time, you know, people would get married very young. So this couple is formed in Mecca under the persecution of the Meccans. And when Umar radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu makes the hijrah to Al-Madinah, Khunais and Hafsa, may Allah be pleased with them both. And with Umar radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu, they join him for the hijrah. So they were amongst that group that actually went with Umar bin Al-Khattab radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu to Al-Madinah at the time for the hijrah. And they stayed with a man by the name of Rifaa'ah ibn Abdul Mundhir radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. And the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam paired Khunais off with a man from the Ansar by the name of Abu Abs ibn Jabr radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu, who was a brother-in-law of Muhammad ibn Maslamah radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. So Khunais and Hafsa settle in their new life in Al-Madinah, this young couple. And Khunais becomes one of those who is near to the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam, of course, by virtue as well of his own father-in-law who embraced Islam after him, Umar radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. Now, what do we know about him after that? When the Battle of Badr took place in the year 624, Khunais is the only member of Banu Sahm who fought in the Battle of Badr, who is considered from the Badriyun. Now, why is that significant? Obviously, Islam did away with the evils of tribalism. But in the wake of a battle, you know, when people would account for the members of the army, they would look for the members of their tribe.
And that's something that continued even after Islam, where people looked for their families and their extended families. The fact that he was the only member from Banu Sahm to fight in Badr is actually one of the noble firsts, because that is very rare. Everyone else has someone there that is with them from their family or their extended family. And the implication is that his younger brothers were too young to fight at the time, whereas he radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu was amongst those that bravely would go forward. He comes back from Badr and he earns the distinction of not just being one of the first Muslims to embrace Islam prior to Dar al-Arqam and to make the hijrah to Abyssinia and to Medina, but also to be from the Badriyun, from those that are the veterans of Badr. Those are the stripes that you want to meet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with. Those are the greatest firsts that you could have in terms of categories when you're meeting Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And then Uhud takes place, and he was amongst those that fought in Uhud. Now, while his name will not be officially counted amongst the martyrs of Uhud, when you're typically looking through shuhada of Uhud, what we read about him radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu is that he suffered a wound in Uhud that caused him to die sometime later. So he is technically considered from the shuhada of Uhud as well. So a person who embraced Islam before the establishment of Dar al-Arqam, a person who made the hijrah to Abyssinia, a person who made the hijrah to Medina, a person who fought in Badr, the first son-in-law of Umar al-Khattab radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu, and also now one of the shuhada of Uhud, one of the martyrs of Uhud. And the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam personally took the body of Khunais radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu, and he performed the janaza of Khunais radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu, and he buried Khunais right next to the famous companion Uthman ibn Mad'un radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu.
And if you go back to the episode about Uthman ibn Mad'un radiAllahu Anhu, you know how much the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam loved Uthman ibn Mad'un radiAllahu Anhu. So he buries Khunais radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu till today in Al-Baqi' right next to Uthman ibn Mad'un radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. And he and Hafsa radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu were never blessed with that son Hudhafa that he was named after, Abu Hudhafa. Hafsa radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu at this point now is a young widow. Okay, so she's also probably not past her late teens at this point when her husband passes away. And that is where you start to see the story of Umar radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu doing his due diligence and seeking a spouse, a righteous spouse for his daughter Hafsa radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. And it was at that time, subhanAllah, that Uthman ibn Affan radiAllahu Anhu had lost his wife Ruqaiya radiAllahu Anhu, the daughter of the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam. And Umar radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu looking to the best two people in society at the time, Abu Bakr and Uthman and seeing if either one of them will marry his daughter Hafsa radiAllahu Anhu. And instead, of course, the one who was better than all of them, the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam, would marry Hafsa radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. And Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu would marry Um Kulthum, may Allah be pleased with her, the daughter of the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam. So this is a man by the name of Khunais, and this is a great companion, a person who has all of the stripes, all of the categories, but subhanAllah, who is barely known to Muslim memory. And inshAllah ta'ala that will change. And on top of that, subhanAllah, it is also important to point out, Ad-Dalu al-Khayr, the one who guides to good, is like the one who commits it. And what we will find from his brother, Abdullah bin Hudhafa radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu, is a great legacy in Islam.
And that started off with this man, Khunais radiAllahu anhu, bringing his younger brother to embrace Islam with the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam as a child. And then he would dedicate himself to the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam and to the spread of Islam. And inshAllah ta'ala, we will talk about Abdullah bin Hudhafa radiAllahu anhu, one of my favorite stories. Next time, may Allah be pleased with Khunais and may Allah be pleased with Hafsa, our mother radiAllahu anhu, who one day we will do a long biography of. And may Allah be pleased with all of those who the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam was pleased with. Allahumma ameen. JazakumAllahu khayran. See you all next time inshAllah. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
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