Zayd ibn Amr

Zayd ibn Amr ibn Nufayl (died 605) was a monotheist and poet who lived in Mecca shortly before Islam.

Family He was the son of Amr ibn Nufayl, a member of the Adi clan of the Quraysh tribe. Zayd's mother had previously been married to his grandfather, Nufayl ibn Abduluzza, so her son from this marriage, al-Khattab ibn Nufayl, was at the same time Zayd's maternal half-brother and paternal half-uncle.

Religious beliefs Abandonment of idols According to the Islamic historians Ibn Ishaq and Ibn Sa'd, Zayd became disillusioned with the traditional religion of Arabia, for the stone that the people worshipped "could neither hear nor see nor hurt nor help" and "the worship of stone or hewn wood is nothing."

Zayd travelled to Syria to question both Jews and Christians about their beliefs, but he was not happy with the answers of either group. According to later Muslim historians, he had "the religion of Abraham, following the natural form" and "worshipped Allah alone with no partner." Amir ibn Rabi'a, an ally of al-Khattab, later said that Zayd had told him that he believed in the future coming of a prophet.

Third, he opposed infanticide. He rescued infant girls who were about to be buried alive and brought them up in his own house. When the girls had grown older, he would offer their fathers a choice between taking their daughters back or leaving them to be supported at Zayd's expense.

Guillaume calls this "a tradition of outstanding importance ... the only extant evidence of the influence of a monotheist on Muhammad by way of admonition."

There are two different accounts or narratives of Zayd's encounter with Muhammad in the book Sahih al-Bukhari and in other Sunni sources. In one variety, in Volume 7, Book 67, Hadith Number 407, Muhammad presents and offers the meat to Zayd, who refuses to eat any of it, while in Volume 5, Book 58, Hadith Number 169, the food is first presented to Muhammad, who rejects it, and then to Zayd, who also declines the food offer. In the narrative reported in the fifth volume and the 58th book, both Muhammad and Zayd refuse eating any of the meat presented to them by a third party, due to its origin of slaughtering in the name of idols. Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani also reports of several different versions or narrations of the story, in some proposing the possibility that the prophet of Islam never ate food originating from sacrificing to idols.

Ali al-Milani criticizes the authenticity and truthfulness of Fazlallah Khunji Isfahani's report of the event. He also questions the narrative from the book Sahih al-Bukhari.

Reaction of the Quraysh Zayd's wife Safiya disliked his travels to Syria. Whenever she saw him preparing for a journey, she reported it to al-Khattab, who would reproach Zayd for abandoning their religion. Zayd did not bother to explain himself to al-Khattab, but he rebuked Safiya for trying to humiliate him.

Journeys and Death Finding it impossible to stay in Mecca, he left the Hijaz and went as far as Mosul in the north of Iraq and from there southwest into Syria. Throughout his journeys, he always questioned monks and rabbis about the religion of Ibrahim. He found no satisfaction until he came upon a monk in Syria who told him that the religion he was seeking did not exist any longer but the time was now near when God would send forth, from his own people whom he had left, a Prophet who would revive the religion of Ibrahim. The monk advised him that should he see this Prophet he should have no hesitation in recognizing and following him.

Zayd retraced his steps and headed for Mecca, intending to meet the expected Prophet. As he was passing through the territory of Lakhm on the southern border of Syria, he was attacked by a group of nomad Arabs and killed before he could arrive at Mecca. According to Islamic sources, before he died, he raised his eyes to the heavens and said:

O Lord, if You have prevented me from attaining this good, do not prevent my son from doing so.

His son Sa'id bin Zayd was one of the first converts to Islam, and amongst the special group of 10 people that were promised paradise in a famous hadith.

Waraka ibn Nawfal is said to have composed an elegy for him: You were altogether on the right path, Ibn Amr; You have escaped Hell's burning oven by serving the one and only God and abandoning vain idols … for the mercy of God reaches men though they be seventy valleys deep below the earth.