Adi ibn Hatim

Adi ibn Hatim ibn Abdullah al-Ta'i was the son of Hatim, the famously generous, and was known as Abu Tarif. He embraced Islam in 9 AH, though some say 10 AH, and had been a Christian before that ¹.

Abu Ubayda ibn Hudhayfa relates from Adi: "When the Prophet ﷺ was sent, I hated him with an intense hatred." He set off to the farthest land on the Roman side, and there he hated the place even more. He said: "If I went to him and he is a liar, it will not escape me; and if he is truthful, I will follow him." So he came. When he reached Medina, the Prophet said to him: "Adi, embrace Islam and you will be safe." He said: "I have a religion." The Prophet said: "I know your religion better than you do. Are you not the leader of your people? ... Do you not take the quarter-share? ... That is not lawful for you in your religion" ².

In another account, from Abbad ibn Hubaysh, he came to the Prophet in the mosque without safe-conduct or letter. The Prophet took his hand and asked him: "Do you know of any god besides God? ... Do you know of anything greater than God?" He said no. The Prophet then described the Jews as those who have incurred anger and the Christians as those who have gone astray, in words that echo the opening chapter of the Qur'an ².

He held firm in his Islam during the Ridda, and brought his people's alms to Abu Bakr. He witnessed the conquest of Iraq, then settled in Kufa, took part in Siffin with Ali, and died past sixty, advanced in years ¹. Al-Sha'bi relates that Umar said to him: "You believed when they disbelieved, recognised when they denied, were faithful when they betrayed, and came forward when they turned back. The first alms that whitened the faces of the Companions of God's Messenger were the alms of Tayy" ².

Khalifa said he lived to one hundred and twenty, and Abu Hatim al-Sijistani said one hundred and eighty ¹. Adi said: "No prayer has been called since I became Muslim without my being in a state of ablution" ¹.

Ibn Hajar mentions that the two Sahihs include the story of his taking God's words in al-Baqara 187 literally, and the Prophet's saying to him: "Your pillow is indeed broad" ².

Ibn Ishaq relates, in Adi's own account, his dislike of the Prophet and his flight to the Christians of Syria when his servant saw the banners of Muhammad's armies. The Prophet's cavalry captured his sister, Hatim's daughter, then released her. She went to join him and urged him to return. Then he came to Medina. The Prophet rose to meet him and took him by the hand to his house. The Prophet stood for a long time with a weak woman, then offered Adi a leather cushion while sitting himself on the ground. Adi said to himself: "This is not the manner of a king." The Prophet asked him: "Were you not a Rukusi, leading your people and taking the quarter-share? That was not lawful for you in your religion." He mentioned three things that would come to pass: the overflow of wealth, the safety of a woman travelling from al-Qadisiyya to the House, and the opening of the white palaces of the land of Babylon. Adi then embraced Islam. He used to say: "Two have passed, and the third remains" ^{3 4 5}. The details are in the Islam of Adi ibn Hatim and the capture and release of Hatim's daughter. The Prophet appointed him over Tayy and its alms, and over Banu Asad ⁶.

The Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.), signed A. Schaade, describes 'Adi b. Hatim b. 'Abd Allah b. Sa'd al-Ta'i, Abu Tarif, a Companion of the Prophet and later a follower of 'Ali. He was the son of the poet Hatim al-Ta'i and, like him, a Christian. He had inherited the command of his tribe, but when he was threatened with losing it he became a Muslim in 9 or 10/630-1, and he collected the taxes of Tayyi' and Asad. After the Prophet's death he stayed faithful to Islam and kept his tribe from apostasy during the ridda. He took part in the conquest of Iraq and received from 'Uthman a grant of land, al-Rawha', on the Nahr 'Isa near the future Baghdad, but he kept aloof from 'Uthman, and al-Tabari suggests he had some connection with the assassins. ⁷

He fought under 'Ali at the Battle of the Camel in 36/656, where he lost an eye. Before Siffin he was one of the delegates 'Ali sent to Mu'awiya, and then, as standard-bearer, he fought at Siffin, where his three sons were killed. He afterwards lived at Kufa, where he kept his 'Alid sympathies and gave effective protection to members of his tribe who were persecuted by the governor of Iraq, Ziyad b. Abi Sufyan. He died in 68/687-8. ⁷