Haritha ibn al-Nu'man

Haritha ibn al-Nu'man ibn Nufay' ibn Zayd ibn Ubayd ibn Tha'laba ibn Ghanm ibn Malik ibn al-Najjar al-Ansari was a Companion of Banu al-Najjar who fought at Badr, Uhud, the Trench and every campaign with the Prophet ¹. The editor of Fada'il al-Sahaba notes in his biography that he saw Gabriel twice and stood firm on the day of Hunayn ².

Haritha had houses near the Prophet's dwellings in Medina; whenever the Prophet needed a house for a new member of his household, Haritha moved out of one house after another, until the Prophet said he felt shy before Haritha for all the houses he had given up for them ².

In Fada'il al-Sahaba, Ahmad ibn Hanbal devotes a short chapter to Haritha's merits ³. It opens with Amra's report from Aisha that the Prophet said he slept and saw himself in Paradise, heard a voice reciting, and asked who it was; he was told, "Haritha ibn al-Nu'man", and said: "Such is dutifulness, such is dutifulness" — and Haritha was the most dutiful of people to his mother ². The editor grades the chain sound and notes that Ahmad also narrates it in the Musnad, Abd al-Razzaq in the Musannaf, and al-Hakim and al-Nasa'i, while Ibn al-Mubarak has it from al-Zuhri from Amra without the Companion link (mursal) ¹.

The chapter also has a report from Haritha himself: he passed the Prophet as he sat at al-Maqa'id with Gabriel beside him, greeted him and went on; when he returned, the Prophet asked: "Did you see the one who was with me?" He said yes; the Prophet said: "That was Gabriel, and he returned your greeting" ⁴. The editor grades its chain sound; it is in the Musnad with the same chain ².

Haritha lived on until he died during the caliphate of Mu'awiya in 51 AH; the editor's sources for his biography are Ibn Sa'd's Tabaqat, al-Isti'ab, Usd al-Ghaba, al-Bidaya wa-l-Nihaya and al-Isaba ².