Pause.
Get to know the Companions, the scholars, and the prominent figures.
A new challenge: Who am I?
I am one of the Companions, from the nobility of Banu Tamim and the leaders of Banu Mujashi'.
During the Age of Ignorance (Jahiliyyah), I used to ransom infant girls destined to be buried alive.
These were the daughters whose fathers intended to bury them alive.
Out of fear of shame and poverty.
I am the grandfather of the poet al-Farazdaq.
He used to boast of me, saying:
"And the grandfather who prevented the burying of daughters and saved the buried one, so she was not buried."
I came to the Prophet, peace be upon him.
He presented Islam to me, and I accepted it.
He taught me verses from the Qur'an.
“And whoso doeth good an atom's weight will see it then,” (99:7)
I said, "That is enough for me, that is enough for me."
Then I said, "O Messenger of Allah,
I performed certain deeds during the Age of Ignorance.
Is there any reward for me in them?"
He asked, "What did you do?"
I said, "I lost two pregnant she-camels.
I went out searching for them on a camel of mine.
I saw two tents in an open expanse of land.
I headed toward them.
I found an old man in one of them.
I asked, 'Have you seen two pregnant she-camels?'
He said, 'Yes, we have found your camels.'
While he was speaking to me and I to him,
a woman called out to him from the other tent,
'She has given birth! She has given birth!'
He asked, 'What did she give birth to?'
She replied, 'A girl.'
He said, 'Then bury her.'
I said to him, 'Do not bury her.
I will buy her life from you.
Do not kill her.'
He asked, 'What will you buy her with?'
I said, 'I will buy her from you with these two she-camels and their offspring.'
He said, 'And add to that this camel you are riding.'
I said, 'Yes.'
'But on the condition that you send a messenger with me.
When I reach my family,
I will send the camel back to you with the messenger.'
He agreed.
When I reached my family,
I sent the camel back to him.
When night fell,
I reflected on myself and said,
'This is truly a noble deed,
one that no one among the Arabs has preceded me in.'
From then on, I would not hear of a newborn girl
without ransoming her before she could be buried.
This continued until Islam appeared.
I had saved three hundred and sixty girls,
buying each one of them with two pregnant she-camels and a camel.
Is there any reward for me in that?"
The Prophet, peace be upon him, replied,
"This is a form of righteousness.
You have its reward, since Allah has favored you with Islam."
One day, I asked the Prophet, peace be upon him,
and said, "O Messenger of Allah,
sometimes I have surplus food.
I set it aside for the people and the wayfarer.
Whom should I begin with?"
The Prophet, peace be upon him, said,
"Your mother and your father,
your sister and your brother,
then your closest relatives, then the next closest."
So, who am I?