Abdur Rahman Bin Awf Biography And His Business

Abdur Rahman Bin Awf is among the ten prominent companions of prophet Muhammad SAW. He was born ten years after the year of the elephant, so he is ten years younger than the Prophet.

Today, will talk about another mountain of the mountains of the companions, may Allah be pleased with them.

We will talk about one of those whom the prophet SAW gave them the glad tidings that they are in paradise.

We’ll talk about Abdur Rahman Bin Awf, may Allah be pleased with him.

Name	Abdaur Rahman ibn Awf
Father’s name	Awf ibn Abd Awf
Mother’s name	Al-Shifa Bint Awf Ibn Abd Ibn Al-Harith
Occupation	Businessman, Entrepreneur and Investor
Date of Birth	c. 581
Place of birth	Mecca, Hejaz, Arabia
Death	c.  654
Place of death	Medina, Rashidun Caliphate
Burial place	Al-Baqi Cemetery
Wives	Umm Kulthum bint Uqba, Habiba bint Jahsh

Early Life Of Abdur Rahman Bin Awf In Islam

It was said that his name was Abd Amr and some say it’s Abdul Harith and others say that it was Abdul Kaaba.

The Prophet SAW change his name into Abdul Rahman.

Abdul Rahman even though it took on Islam and accepted Deen of Allah subhanAllah and a time that the Muslims will propagate in Islam secretly.

Due to the persecution and the tortures of the disbelievers in Allah.

One of the person that used to propagate this da’awa, they used to call people to Islam secretly was Abubakar, may Allah be Pleased with him.

Abubakar had to recognize people that had good reputation, good characters, ethics and morals.

One of the people that recognize these characteristics in was Abdurrahman Ibn Auf.

When Abubakar RA went to him and he presented to him the message of islam, duties, good characters, ethics and morals as well as reputation, Abdul Rahman accepted islam immediately.

He was so happy with the dean of Allah SWT and he wanted to go to the messenger of Allah SAW to announce his Islam in front of the Prophet SAW.

When he was young, he was not so wealthy he, accepted Islam at a very early age, in fact it is reported that he was ten years younger than Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam.

He was from amongst the top eight to except Islam.

Abdurrahman Ibn Auf accepted Islam prior to the Muslims going into the house of Al Arqam Ibn Al Arqam. He was one of those who struggled at the hands of the kuffar of Quraysh.

The disbelievers had harmed those who had accepted Islam initially.

And from amongst them was this particular man Abdul Rahman Bin Awf.

This companion of the Prophet SAW stayed and kept company with the prophet Muhammad SAW, learning Islam, migrating to Ethiopia for the sake of Allah.

When the torture became too much, the persecution was too much.

However, even though they stayed from torture, persecution, Abdul Rahman, may Allah be pleased him could not take to be away from the Prophet SAW.

So he came back a way to Mecca in order to be with the Prophet SAW.

When the revelation came to the messenger of Allah to emigrate to Medina, Abdul Rahman was one of the ones that decided to emigrate to Medina.

But his emigration or migrating to Medina was a unique migration.

In the sense that Abdul Raham in prior to Islam and in Islam was a serious businessman.

When he decided to make great to Medina, the Kuffar Quraysh said if he wanted to go and join Muhammad SAW and Muslims in Medina, you could go but you’re not going to take the economy of Mecca with you to Medina, that’s how rich he was.

He wealth could change the economy of a whole country.

They said, if you want to go, go but leave your wealth behind in Makkah.

So Abdurrahman Ibn Awf, all this wealth, which he had amassed and worked hard for, he had a choice either to stay in Makkah for his wealth or to emigrate to Allah, and the prophet Muhammad SAW and the Muslims in Medina.

So he decided every single penny, left all is wealth in Makkah to go to the Prophet SAW and Muslims in Medina.

Life in Madina

Upon reaching Madina, the Prophet SAW seeing the state of Abdul Rahman, and the state of those who were called Muhajireen, those who migrated.

So Abdurrahman Ibn Auf arrived in Medina penniless, destitute and he said about himself that Prophet SAW took one of the Ansar, the people of Madina to be my brother.

He formed a bond of brotherhood between me and another Sahabi called Rabi.

This companion looked at Abdul Rahman and he looked at his situation, a destitute person and he said to him,

The people of Medina know that I am the most wealthiest person among them and that is my wealth and my money, half of it is yours.

And they also know that I have two wives, look at them and choose the one you like most and I’ll divorce her, and once she is out of her waiting period you can marry her.

And this is definitely something from out of this world.

One would say that this is not human. This shows how a great believer Sa’ad Ibn Rabi was, may Allah be pleased with him.

Abdurrahman on the other hand, was not a person to take the chance.

Abdul Rahman was an honourable companion, was a man of honor.

He valued this offer and he cherished his brother and Islam, he said may Allah bless your wealth and bless your wives but show me where the market is.

Abdur Rahman Ibn Awf Business

Abdurrahman Ibn Auf went to the marketplace, wherever he could find, some wood, some rope.

He went to the marketplace immediately because he never gave up hope.

He took these things, he went to the market. The Prophet SAW did not see him for a while, and once he saw him after a while, he saw some marks on his face, some type of makeup that the men used to wear when they get married.

So the Prophet SAW asked him: what is this Abdul Rahman? He said oh Messenger of Allah I got married.

So the prophets of Allah asked him what did you give her as dowry? Abdul Rahman said; he gave her a certain amount of gold.

At this the prophet Muhammad SAW smiled and he said to him, follow the Sunnah of doing Walima.

Abdur Rahman Bin Awf took the advice of the Prophet SAW and he had a feast for his wedding.

Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam made a Dua for Abdul Rahman, may Allah grant you blessings, barakah in your wealth and in your family.

Abdul Rahman siad that dua upon the occasion of my marriage, that Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wa salam had gave me was so powerful that wallah the world came to my feet.

And he says: if I move the stone I would find underneath it gold or silver.

He took part in the Battle of Badr and he did well, he took part in the Battle of Uhud and he did very well.

But as for his wealth, he earned so much, he became so wealthy that he was one of those whom when the caravans were seen far away from Medina, they immediately knew this is the caravan of Abdul Rahman.

He was one of those who competed with Usman Bin Affan RA.

He had so much of wealth even Usman Bin Affan once saw the caravan of Abdul Rahman when he was returning from his own journey, he looked at it and said that is a man whom Allah has blessed with a lot of wealth, yet when he made Hijra, he had absolutely nothing.

When he got married he had very little the first amount that he ever earned he got married with.

But money was not in his heart, money was in his hands.

And that is why he was generous, it was reported that in one single day he freed 30 slaves of his for the sake of Allah.

He did not wear fancy clothes or ride fancy rides. He was a normal Muslim.

He had the honour of the Prophet SAW praying behind him.

The Prophet SAW was once in one of the battles, or he was once trying to reconcile between two disputing factions, or two disputing tribes and he was late and it was time for prayer.

And it was said that it was fajr prayer. It was almost sunrise, and they were waiting for the Prophet but he did not show up.

So Bilal, the one calling for the Azan said, ok what do you want us to do?

So Abdurrahman said: call for prayer and he led the prayer.

He prayed one raka and then came the Prophet SAW and joined the congregation and he prayed one raka with Abdurrahman and then completed his prayer.

So this is an honor that was only to be given to Abdurrahman Ibn Awf, may Allah be pleased with him and to Abu Bakr before that may Allah be pleased with them all.

Only these two companions whom the Prophet SAW had prayed behind them.

Abdur Rahman Bin Awf, may Allah be pleased with him was also one of the knowledgable companions of the Prophet SAW.

It was reported that when Umar Ibn Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him went in one of his travels to the North of Arabia to Sham, this area was struck by plague.

So they did not know what to do, and in comes Abdurrahman Ibn Auf, may Allah be pleased with him, and said what’s the issue?

He wasn’t there, he was somewhere else. And when they told him, he said in this case I will tell you what I’ve heard from our prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

Our Prophet SAW said that: if you here of the plague in a city in an area, do not go into it and if the plague strikes in an area where you are inhabiting, where you are living then you must not go out of it.

So this in short is the quarantine that the Prophet SAW had set to protect the people.

Philanthropy

In one of the greatest battles which the Prophet SAW needed a lot of donations, that this donation that was received by the Prophet SAW was so amazing.

SubhanAllah that Umar RA said about these donations that on this particular day, the donations from myself was so large, I thought I’ll do Abu Bakr.

We know Omar gave for donation, he gave half of his wealth, half of everything he earned.

Abubakar RA gave every single thing he owned for the sake of Allah.

But yet the donation was not enough, so they needed more donation.

Then came forth Abdul Rahman, he came forward with a bag full of so much gold.

He put it on the lap of the prophet SAW. Omar said; even though people been donating half of their wealth, everything they earned, he said;

This donation of Abdurrahman was so great that he thought to himself, Abdul Rahman Bin Awf had committed so kind of sin, wanted some some expiation.

But it was not that, h was a person, he gave for the sake of Allah.

He had a piece of land that he sold for forty thousand dinars.

A dinar as a gold coin.

When he received the amount, he went out looking for the family of the mother of prophet Muhammad SAW, Amina bintu Wahab.

He was from the same clan as well.

And he went to the her relatives and he gave them a healthy amount each.

And he went to each one of the wives of the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and gave them a gift and amount each and he went looking for the poor.

The poor did not have to ask Abdul Rahman, he knew who they were, he had a relationship with them.

He went out to them and he always considered it an honor to be spending upon the poor.

He decided, I am the one who’s going to look after the wives of Muhammad SAW, so he travelled with them wherever they went.

He ensured that he had the best of camels for them and he made sure that they rode on those beautiful camels where he had put great mats and mattresses.

And he had the coverings of those camels in the most beautiful way so that they would be protected from the Sun.

And he ensured that he was at their service wherever they went.

The wives of the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa salam had so much respect for this man. They trusted him so much, they knew that this Abdul Rahman has been truthful to his promise to Muhammad SAW.

He has spent on them so much so that we will come to learn what he did in his will and who he bequeathed his wealth for.

Let’s listen to what happened close to his death, he started freeing his slaves one by one.

He wrote all those who took part in the Battle of Badr and they have remained they are alive, each one of them who should get 400 gold coins, and they were 100 of them which means forty thousand gold coins were given at the time that Abdurrahman Ibn Auf died, distributed to those who were the remainder of the people who took part in the Battle of Badr.

Then they found that he had left a large amount of wealth for each one of the remainders of the wives of Muhammad SAW.

And on top of that, subhanAllah, he left wealth for so many other good causes.

And then they looked at what he left for his family, 1000 camels they found.

100 stallions, this was after they had given whatever was already between three thousand sheep.

It is reported that once he was seated and he began to cry, because it was the time of breaking his fast and there was so much food in front of him.

They asked him Oh Abu Muhammad, Why are you crying? He said wallahi I’m thinking of Musab Bin Umair, we buried him and there was nothing to cover him properly.

And I’m thinking of Muhammad salallahu alayhi wasalam, being the best of creation and the nabi of Allah, the prophet of Allah, he never had food like this that is in front of me.

And I fear that perhaps Allah might be giving me this in my life. I hope he gives me something in paradise as well.

He called the people and he let them share from his food because he could not eat alone, he was a simple man.

At his deathbed, he said, I fear that perhaps I will be delayed in joining the rest of the companions because I’ve had so much wealth.

I need to give account for everything that I have.

So Aisha Radiyallahu Anha made him the main offer, the offer which was the cherry on the cake for Abdurrahman Ibn Awf.

She said, Oh Abdurrahman I offer you to be buried next to Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and my father and Umar Ibn Khattab RA.

I offer you to be buried in my own home.

He turned down the offer, he did not want to be known as a person of that rank.

He knew that the simplicity would grant him Jannah, may Allah Subhanahu WA Ta’ala bless him and may he grant us all at least a little bit of Baraka in our wealth.

Abdur-Rahman Ibn Awf Death

He died, may Allah be pleased with him on the 32nd year of Al Hijra.

One of his greatest achievement was to choose Usman Bin Affan to be ruler of the believers.

He could have asked for it for himself, but he didn’t, he gave it to Usman and after Usman came Ali and all of them were among the companions of the prophet alayhi salatu salam, may Allah be pleased with them all.