Khabbab ibn al-Aratt

Tortured in the Cause of Allah

Khabbab ibn al-Aratt was a blacksmith of Makkah and among the earliest to embrace Islam. For his faith he was tortured without mercy: he was laid upon burning coals so that only the fat melting from his own back put out the flames, and his head was branded with hot iron. Long afterward he showed his scarred back to Umar, who said he had never seen the like. 1 Hayatus Sahaba · Vol 1 · pp. 301–303 — Kandhlawi — Khabbab tortured on fire so his back's fat quenched it; his branded head; later showing Umar his scars.

The Call to Patience

In the depth of the persecution, Khabbab came to the Prophet ﷺ as he rested in the shade of the Ka’ba and asked him to pray for their relief. The Prophet’s ﷺ face reddened, and he reminded him of believers before them whose flesh had been combed from their bones with iron yet who never abandoned their faith — and bade them be patient, for they were trying to hasten what Allah would surely bring. 2 Hayatus Sahaba · Vol 1 · pp. 303–304 — Kandhlawi — Khabbab's appeal at the Ka'ba; the Prophet recounts earlier believers' endurance and calls for patience.

Death & Legacy

Khabbab fought at Badr and lived into the time of the civil strife, dying in Kufa in 37 AH — the first of the Companions to be buried there; Ali stood at his grave and eulogised him. 3 Stories of the Sahabah · pp. 16 — Zakariyya Kandhlawi — Khabbab's death in Kufa in 37 AH, the first Sahabi buried there, and Ali's eulogy.