At a glance
- Roles
- Companion · Scholar
- Counted among
- Sunni
- Era
- The Prophetic Era · The Rashidun Caliphate
- Region
- Arabia · Levant & Iraq
- Identifiers
- Wikidata
- Review
- Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it
Slavery and freedomConverts and those who leave
Place in the story
- Convert to IslamTradition
Sunni (transmitted)
Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.
Summary
A notable Companion, jurist and hadith scholar; he had been a slave of Thaqif in al-Ta'if's fortress, and when the Prophet proclaimed safety and freedom to whoever came down from the fortress, he lowered himself on a pulley-wheel — by which he became known — and the Prophet freed him, naming him among "God's freed" 1.
Coming down from the fortress
During the siege of al-Ta'if, Abu Bakra answered the Prophet's call and came down from atop the fortress wall using a rope's pulley; the Prophet nicknamed him "Abu Bakra" (father of the pulley) and freed him, refusing to return him to Thaqif after their Islam 1. He afterwards became one of the great hadith transmitters and settled in Basra 1.
For young visitors
He was a man held in slavery inside al-Ta'if's fortress; he lowered himself by rope and pulley to win his freedom with the Prophet, who freed him — and he became a learned Companion and transmitter of the noble hadith.
Connections
- Parent of
- Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakra· Muslim ibn Abi Bakra
- Member of
- Thaqif
- Participated in
- The siege of Ta'if· The Mughira-Umm Jamil Affair
- Mentioned in
- Bukhari 4662 — Time has come full circle· Muslim 2888 — When two Muslims clash with swords
People and things also explored
The delegation of Thaqif· The Basra Bathhouse Permissions· The Battle of Hunayn· Thaqif· al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba· Muhammad· Umar ibn al-Khattab· Ta'if
Sources
- al-Sira al-Nabawiyya — Ibn Hisham, al-Saqqa edition (1355/1936) , 4/128
- Futuh al-Buldan — al-Baladhuri (Mu'assasat al-Ma'arif edition)
- Sahih al-Bukhari
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Abu Bakra Nufay' ibn al-Harith”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/abu-bakra-al-thaqafi/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-19.