Abu al-As ibn al-Rabi'

Abu al-As ibn al-Rabi' ibn Abd al-Uzza ibn Abd Shams al-Abshami; his mother was Hala bint Khuwaylid, and his title was "the puppy of al-Batha'". Al-Zubayr ibn Bakkar says that he was called "the trustworthy" before Islam. ¹ His name is disputed: it is said Luqayt (as Mus'ab al-Zubayri, al-Fallas, al-Ala'i and al-Hakim said, and al-Baladhuri preferred), and it is said Hashim, and it is said Muhashsham; Ibn Mandah relates that it was said Yasir, and Ibn Hajar thinks this a corruption of "Yasim". ¹

Before the mission, according to Zubayr on the authority of his uncle Mus'ab, he was a brother to the Prophet in the claim of some scholars, and he often visited his house, and he was married to the Prophet's eldest daughter Zaynab; he did not accept Islam until after the Hijra. ¹ Ibn Ishaq said that he was among the men of Mecca counted for wealth, trustworthiness and trade. ²

Ibn Hajar relates from Ibn Ishaq that he fought at Badr with the polytheists and was captured with those who were captured. When the people of Mecca sent to ransom their captives, Zaynab sent a necklace that Khadija had given her when she brought her to Abu al-As. The Prophet was very tender toward her, and said to the Muslims: "If you see fit to release her captive and return to her her necklace," and they did, on condition that he send her to Medina, and he did. ² Ibn Ishaq says that the man who captured him at Badr was Abd Allah ibn Jubayr ibn al-Nu'man; al-Waqidi relates that it was Khirash ibn al-Simma and that his brother Amr ibn al-Rabi' came to ransom him. ²

In Ibn Ishaq's report he came later with a caravan of Quraysh, and the Muslims captured him and took what he had; Zaynab gave him protection, so he returned to Mecca, paid back the deposits to their owners, then emigrated to Medina as a Muslim, and the Prophet returned his daughter to him. ² Musa ibn Uqba relates that the man who captured him the second time was Abu Basir al-Thaqafi and those Muslims with him, when they stayed on the coast cutting the road on Quraysh's merchants during the truce between al-Hudaybiyya and the conquest. ²

This is an entry with differing reports between what al-Hakim relates from al-Sha'bi and what Ibn Ishaq mentions; their details are in the section of views below, and it is from the "Isaba" alone, to which no other sources have yet been added.