At a glance
- Roles
- Companion
- Counted among
- Sunni
- Era
- The Prophetic Era
- Region
- Arabia · East Africa & Swahili coast
- Review
- Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it
In space
Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph
Refugees, migrants and diaspora
Place in the story
- CompanionTradition
Sunni (transmitted)
Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.
Summary
Son of Adi ibn Nadla; he accompanied his father to Abyssinia and arrived from there, and Umar later appointed him over Maysan then dismissed him over verses ascribed to him. 1
In the Abyssinian emigrants chapter
Ibn Ishaq mentions that al-Nu'man ibn Adi was with his father Adi in Abyssinia, and that he came with the Muslims who arrived from the land of Abyssinia. 1 He lived on until Umar ibn al-Khattab (may God be pleased with him)'s caliphate; Umar appointed him over Maysan of the Basra territory then dismissed him. 1 The cause of the dismissal was verses he spoke (the editors' note says he wrote them to his wife); when they reached Umar he said they pained him and dismissed him. When al-Nu'man excused himself that he was a poet who spoke as poets do, Umar answered that he would never employ him again for what remained, as he had said what he said. 1
Tribe
He belongs, per Ibn Ishaq, to Banu Adi ibn Ka'b 1
Source notes and markers of doubt
- The verse-reading differs between "sanaja/raqqasa" (the editors cite Mu'jam al-Buldan's reading); the verses are not reproduced here.
- Whether al-Nu'man arrived in the two ships or after them is not stated; Ibn Ishaq only said "he came with those who came".
Connections
- Member of
- Banu Adi ibn Ka'b
- Child of
- Adi ibn Nadla
- Participated in
- Umar dismisses al-Nu'man ibn Adi from Maysan· Return of the Abyssinian emigrants with Ja'far ibn Abi Talib
- Traveled to
- Aksum
People and things also explored
Return of the Abyssinian emigrants with Ja'far ibn Abi Talib· Adi ibn Nadla· Layla bint Abi Hathma· Ma'mar ibn Abdullah ibn Nadla· Urwa ibn Abd al-Uzza· Aksum· The second migration to Abyssinia· Abdullah ibn al-Harith the Poet
Sources
- al-Sira al-Nabawiyya — Ibn Hisham, al-Saqqa edition (1355/1936) , 4/9
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Al-Nu'man ibn Adi”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/al-numan-ibn-adi/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-12.