Rafi' ibn Umayra al-Ta'i

Rafi' ibn Abi Rafi' al-Ta'i, who is Rafi' ibn Umayra. Ibn Ishaq relates "as it has reached me" his account about himself: he was a Christian named Sarjis, and in the pre-Islamic period he was the most knowledgeable and skilled of people in the desert. He would bury water in ostrich eggs in its regions, then raid people's camels and drive them into the desert, where no one could pursue him, until he passed by the hidden water, dug it up and drank ¹. When he became Muslim, he went out on the expedition of Dhat al-Salasil and chose a companion for himself. He accompanied Abu Bakr and was with him in his baggage ¹.

When they drew near to Medina on the return, he said to Abu Bakr: "I accompanied you so that God would benefit me through you. So advise me and teach me." Abu Bakr counselled him to affirm God's oneness, establish prayer, give zakat, fast Ramadan, perform the pilgrimage to the House, and perform the ritual bath after sexual impurity, and never to take command over two Muslim men. ² Rafi' agreed to each of these, God willing, except for command, about which he asked, because he saw that people gained honour with the Prophet ﷺ and among the people only through it. Abu Bakr explained to him that when people entered the religion they became the protected of God and his neighbours and under his covenant, and warned him: "Beware lest God be breached in His neighbours, and He pursue you for that breach." ² When the Prophet died and Abu Bakr was appointed, Rafi' came to him and reminded him of the Prophet's prohibition. Abu Bakr said: "Yes, and I now forbid you too, but I find no escape from it; I feared division for the community of Muhammad." ³

al-Baladhuri reports that he was the guide of Khalid ibn al-Walid across the desert from Qaraqir to Sawa when Khalid marched from Iraq to Syria in 13 AH, and the well-known verses about his guidance were composed on that occasion ⁴.

• The identity of Rafi' ibn Abi Rafi' with Rafi' ibn Umayra is stated by Ibn Ishaq: "and he is Rafi' ibn Umayra." On that basis the two men are gathered in one entry. ¹
• His account of himself, "as it has reached me", appears in Ibn Ishaq without a chain of transmission. ¹
• The Fadakiyya cloak: the editors of the edition relate the name to Fadak. ²