At a glance
- Roles
- Scholar
- Era
- The Prophetic Era
- Region
- Arabia
- Identifiers
- Wikidata
- Review
- Draft Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it
Life in time
In space
Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph
Converts and those who leaveIslam and JudaismScripture and its sciences
Place in the story
- Scholar · c. 610 CETradition
- Convert to Islam · 622 CE · 1 BH†Tradition
- Companion · 622 CE · 1 BH† – 632 CE · 11 AH†Tradition
Jewish (documented) · Sunni (transmitted)
How others named them
- “Ibn al-habr (son of the rabbi)” — the Muslim community
Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.
Brief
Abdullah ibn Salam was a learned rabbi of the Banu Qaynuqa who tested the Prophet when he arrived in Medina, testified to his truthfulness and embraced Islam — the most famous Jew of his age to do so.
Life
Tradition gives him a pre-Islamic name, al-Husayn ibn Salam, and a scene on the Prophet's arrival: questions put to him and answered to a scholar's satisfaction. He then declared his Islam openly. Tradition adds that when his people heard of it they called him a liar, though only moments before they had been calling him "our lord and the son of our lord" 1.
He is counted among the Companions, and in the hadith tradition he is among those given the good news of Paradise. He died in Medina around 663 CE 1.
For young visitors
A Jewish scholar tested the Prophet with his hardest questions — and came away convinced.
His conversion on the Prophet's arrival (The Sealed Nectar p.181–182)
He heard of the Prophet's arrival and came to him with questions that only a prophet could answer, and he believed at once. He then told the Prophet that the Jews were a people of slander. The Prophet sent for them; when they learned of his conversion they said, "our worst man and the son of our worst man," and when he asked them about his Islam they said he had lied (Medina's society at the Hijra) 2 3 4.
Opinions on the question
The question: How is the story of Abdullah ibn Salam's conversion presented, and what does it signify?
First opinion · Sunni tradition (the museum's frame)Main reference
More opinions (1)
Academic viewSecondary opinion
Connections
- Born in
- Medina
- Died in
- Medina
- Member of
- Banu Qaynuqa'
- Converted under
- Muhammad
- Mentioned in
- Muwatta 2374
People and things also explored
The Constitution of Medina· Siege of Banu Qaynuqa· Abu Hurayra· Safiyya bint Huyayy· Medina· The capture of Thumama ibn Uthal al-Hanafi and his acceptance of Islam· Conversion of Umayr ibn Wahb· The delegation of Abd al-Qays
Sources
- Ibn Sa'd, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir (Bewley translation, Ta-Ha)
- al-Raheeq al-Makhtum — Safi al-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri , p.181
- al-Raheeq al-Makhtum — Safi al-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri , p.182
- Sahih al-Bukhari , 1/459
- Ibn Ishaq / Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad (1955)
- Watt, Muhammad at Medina (1956)
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Abdullah ibn Salam”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/abdullah-ibn-salam/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-25.