Pause and identify this Companion, scholar, and eminent figure.
A new challenge: who am I?
I am one of the Companions of the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
I am counted among the people of the Hijaz.
I was the envoy of the Banu Sa'd and their leader.
I was known as the best of the Bedouins who came as an envoy to the Prophet, peace be upon him.
I was a sturdy man.
I wore my hair in two braids.
I arrived as an envoy to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him.
I tethered my camel at the door of the mosque.
Then I hobbled it.
Then I entered the mosque, where the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, was sitting with his Companions.
I approached them and said:
"Which of you is the son of 'Abd al-Muttalib?"
The Prophet, peace be upon him, replied:
"I am the son of 'Abd al-Muttalib."
I said:
"O son of 'Abd al-Muttalib,
I am going to ask you some questions and I will be blunt in my questioning,
so do not take offense."
He said:
"I will not take offense,
so ask whatever you wish."
I said:
"I adjure you by Allah, your God,
and the God of those before you,
and the God of those who will come after you:
Has Allah sent you to us as a Messenger?"
The Prophet, peace be upon him, replied:
"By Allah, yes."
I said:
"I adjure you by Allah, your God,
and the God of those before you,
and the God of those who will come after you:
Has Allah commanded you to order us
to worship Him alone, associating nothing with Him,
and to abandon these idols
that our forefathers
used to worship alongside Him?"
He said:
"By Allah, yes."
I said:
"I adjure you by Allah, your God,
and the God of those before you,
and the God of those who will come after you:
Has Allah commanded you
to perform these five prayers?"
He said:
"By Allah, yes."
Then I began to mention the obligatory duties of Islam, one by one:
the zakat, fasting, the Hajj,
and all the laws of Islam,
adjuring him regarding each duty
just as I had adjured him regarding the ones before it.
When I had finished, I said:
"I bear witness that there is no god but Allah,
and I bear witness that you are the Messenger of Allah.
I will perform these obligatory duties
and avoid what you have forbidden me from.
I will neither add to them nor subtract from them."
Then I turned back toward my camel.
The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said:
"If the man with the two braids is truthful,
he will enter Paradise."
Then I went to my people,
and they gathered around me.
The first thing I said to them was:
"Woe to Al-Lat and Al-'Uzza!"
They said:
"What are you saying?
Beware of leprosy and vitiligo,
beware of madness!"
I said:
"Woe to you!
By Allah, they are merely two idols that can neither harm nor benefit.
Allah has sent a Messenger
and revealed to him a Book,
through which He saves you from the state you are in.
I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, with no partner,
and that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.
I have come to you from him with what he has commanded you to do and what he has forbidden you from."
I began to tell them what the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, had taught me.
By Allah, before that day ended,
there was not a single man or woman in my tribe who had not become a Muslim.
So, who am I?