Abdur Rahman ibn Awf

Among the Ten Promised Paradise

Abdur Rahman ibn Awf, of the Quraysh clan of Banu Zuhra, was among the earliest to embrace Islam and one of the ten given the glad tidings of Paradise — and it is he who narrates the very hadith naming the ten (see Virtues in the Hadith). He was famed for the wealth he spent freely in the cause of Allah.

At Badr

Abdur Rahman fought at Badr, and there an old bond was tested. His pre-Islamic friend Umayya ibn Khalaf — the tyrant who had tortured Bilal — fell into his hands, and Abdur Rahman, hoping he might yet be guided, threw down the armour he had taken as spoil and tried to take Umayya and his son captive instead. But when Bilal saw his old tormentor he raised the cry, and the Ansar rushed in; Abdur Rahman even threw himself over Umayya as a living shield, yet they struck the man down from beneath him, and Abdur Rahman took a lasting wound to his foot. He would afterwards say he had lost both his armour and his captive that day. 1 Seerat-e-Mustafa · Vol 1 · pp. 248 — Idris Kandhlawi — Abdur Rahman ibn Awf tries to spare his pre-Islamic friend Umayya ibn Khalaf at Badr; Bilal's cry; Abdur Rahman shields him and is wounded in the foot.

Counsellor and Member of the Shura

Umar leaned on his judgement. When the Caliph proposed to lead the army into Persia himself, it was Abdur Rahman ibn Awf who counselled that the Commander of the Believers must not be risked on the battlefield — advice the senior Companions endorsed. 2 History of Islam · Vol 1 · pp. 335 — Najeebabadi — Abdur Rahman ibn Awf advises Umar not to lead the army in person. And when Umar lay dying, he named Abdur Rahman among the six-man council (shura) entrusted with the succession; it was through this consultation that the caliphate passed to Uthman. 3 Al-Farooq · pp. 295 — Shibli Nomani — Umar names the six, including Abdur Rahman ibn Awf, for the succession. 4 History of Islam · Vol 1 · pp. 382–385 — Najeebabadi — the shura and the election of Uthman.

Virtues in the Hadith

It was Abdur Rahman ibn Awf himself who reported the Prophet’s ﷺ naming of the ten promised Paradise — among whom he was one:

أَبُو بَكْرٍ فِي الْجَنَّةِ … وَعَبْدُ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنُ عَوْفٍ فِي الْجَنَّةِ

”Abu Bakr is in Paradise… and Abdur Rahman ibn Awf is in Paradise…” — within his naming of the ten.

Jami’ at-Tirmidhi 3747 · Book of Manaqib · In-book: Book 49, Hadith 144 · narrated by Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf · graded Sahih (Darussalam)