Ubayd Allah ibn Jahsh ibn Ri'ab ( Arabic: عُبَيْد اللَّه ٱبْن جَحْش ٱبْن رِئَاب, romanized: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Jaḥsh ibn Riʾāb; c. 588–627) was a contemporary of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He died following his migration to Abyssinia in around 615 CE. He is one of the four hanifs (a type of monotheists) mentioned by Ibn Ishaq, the others being Waraqa ibn Nawfal, Uthman ibn al-Huwayrith and Zayd ibn Amr. ^[1]

Biography

He was the son of Jahsh ibn Riyab ^[2] and Umayma bint Abd al-Muttalib, ^[3] hence a brother of Abd Allah ibn Jahsh, Zaynab bint Jahsh, Abu Ahmad ibn Jahsh, Habiba bint Jahsh and Hammanah bint Jahsh, a first cousin of Islamic prophet Muhammad and Ali, and a nephew of Hamza ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib. He married Ramla bint Abi Sufyan (who was also known as Umm Habiba), and they had one daughter, Habibah bint Ubayd Allah. ^[4]

He and his wife became Muslims and, in order to escape from the Meccan persecution, they emigrated to Abyssinia. ^[5]

While in Abyssinia (Ethiopia) He would convert to Christianity. ^[6]

"According to Ibn Ishaq, in the year 615, Ubayd-Allah, with his Muslim wife and daughter, accompanied by a group of Muslim refugees, migrated to Ethiopia to escape Meccan persecution. While he was in Ethiopia, he converted to Christianity and started preaching to his Muslims comrades. Ibn Ishaq who penned the very first biography of Muhamma wrote:

“Ubaydullah went on searching until Islam came; then he migrated with the Muslims to Abyssinia taking with him his wife who was a Muslim, Umm Habiba, d. Abu Sufyan. When he arrived there he adopted Christianity, parted from Islam, and died a Christian in Abyssinia.

Muhammad b. Ja`far b. al-Zubayr told me that when he had become a Christian `Ubaydullah as he passed the prophet’s companions who were there used to say: ‘We see clearly, but your eyes are only half open,’ i.e. ‘We see, but you are only trying to see and cannot see yet.’ He used the word sa’sa’ because when a puppy tries to open its eyes to see, it only half sees. The other faqqaha means to open the eyes. After his death Muhammad married his widow Umm Habiba.” (Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, translated by Alfred Guillaume, 1967, p. 99)" ^[7]

In Abyssinia, he contracted a disease that would cause his death later, but before his death, he recommended to Muhammad that he marry his wife if he died. ^[8]

References