Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr

The First Child of the Muhajirun

Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr was the son of az-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam and Asma bint Abi Bakr, and the first child born to the Muhajirun in Madinah — his birth a joy to the emigrants after a year in which none had been born to them. As a small boy he came with Abdullah ibn Ja’far to pledge to the Prophet ﷺ, who smiled and accepted their pledge though he did not usually take the pledge of children. 1 Stories of the Sahabah · pp. 283–284 — Zakariyya Kandhlawi — Abdullah the first child of the Muhajirun in Madinah. 2 Hayatus Sahaba · Vol 1 · pp. 272 — Kandhlawi — the Prophet accepts the boy Abdullah's pledge of allegiance.

Worshipper and Warrior

He grew into a man of fearless courage and intense worship. In prayer he would stand so still in prostration that birds would alight on his back; he did not flinch when a missile struck the wall beside him. In the North African campaign he is said to have cut his way single-handed to the enemy commander and slain him, routing the foe. 3 Stories of the Sahabah · pp. 96, 283–284 — Zakariyya Kandhlawi — Abdullah's devotion in prayer, unmoved by danger, and his valour against the Roman commander. He lived to be proclaimed caliph in Makkah, and there he died.