Zayd ibn Harithah

Zayd ibn Harithah
Son of Haritha adopted son of Muhammad
Native name	زيد بن حارثة
Born	Zaid ibn Haritha c. 581 Arabia
Died	629 (aged 48) Mu'tah, Byzantium
Children	Usama Zayd Ruqayya
Parent(s)	Harithah

Zayd ibn Harithah (Arabic: زيد بن حارثة‎‎) or Zayd mawla Muhammad (c. 581 – 629 CE) was a companion of Muhammad who was at one stage regarded as his (adoptive) son. He is the only companion whose name appears in the Qur'an (33:37).

Zayd is said to have been ten years younger than Muhammad, suggesting a birth-year of c. 581. He is also said to have been 55 (lunar) years old at his death in 629, indicating a birthdate of 576.

He was born into the Udhra branch of the Kalb tribe in the Najd (highlands) of central Arabia; he claimed a pedigree twelfth in descent from Udhra ibn Zayd al-Lat, who was in turn alleged to have been a great-great-grandson of Kalb ibn Wabara. Zayd's mother, Suda bint Thaalaba, was from the Maan branch of the Tayy tribe.

When Zayd was "a young boy of an age at which he could be a servant" he accompanied his mother on a visit to her family. While they were staying with the Maan tribe, horsemen from the Qayn tribe raided their tents and kidnapped Zayd. They took him to the market at Ukkaz and sold him as a slave for 400 dinars .

Zayd's family searched for him, but without success. A lament is attributed to his father, Harithah ibn Sharahil:

Zayd was purchased by a merchant of Mecca, Hakim ibn Hizam, who gave the boy as a present to his aunt, Khadijah bint Khuwaylid. He remained in her possession until the day she married Muhammad, when she gave the slave as a wedding present to her bridegroom. Muhammad became very attached to Zayd, to whom he referred as al-Habib (“the beloved”).

Some years later, some members of Zayd's tribe happened to arrive in Mecca on pilgrimage. They encountered Zayd and recognised each other, and he asked them to take a message home.

Carry a message from me to my people,
for I am far away, that close to the House and the places of pilgrimage I stay.
Let go of the grief that has deeply saddened you,
and do not hasten your camels all over the earth.
I live with the best of families, may God be blessed;
from father to son, of Ma’ad they are the noblest.