Ka'b ibn Malik (ra)
The Ansari poet of the three who stayed behind from Tabuk; the great lesson in repentance.
Hijri d. 50 AH CE d. c. 670 CE
An elite Ansari Companion and poet of Madinah, best known as one of the three who stayed behind from Tabuk and whose sincere repentance — and vindication of truthfulness (Sidq (Truthfulness)) — is immortalised in the Quran (Q 9:117–119) and a famous first-person hadith.
One-line: the Ansari poet-Companion whose honest confession and 50-day trial became the seerah’s great lesson in repentance and truth.
Identity & lineage
Of the Banu Salama clan of the Khazraj, who lived near Masjid al-Qiblatayn. He converted before the Hijra and took part in the Pledge of Aqaba — an honour he prized above Badr itself. One of the three great poets of Madinah, alongside Hassan ibn Thabit; his genre was rousing the Muslims to courage rather than satire.
Role in the Seerah
- Fought in every campaign except Badr (excused, as it began as a caravan raid) and Tabuk.
- At Uhud he wore the Prophet’s ﷺ armour as a decoy, drawing the enemy and taking 11 wounds.
- The three who stayed behind (Tabuk, 9 AH): with Murara ibn al-Rabi’ and Hilal ibn Umayya, he failed — through procrastination, not hypocrisy — to march, refused to lie about it, endured a fifty-day boycott and separation from his wife, burned the King of Ghassan’s defection offer, and was forgiven from above the heavens (Q 9:117–119). He vowed lifelong truthfulness and was tested with it “more than any Muslim.”
Character & lessons
His story is the seerah’s textbook on repentance, honesty, and the danger of procrastination; his distinction between the maqam of Allah and the maqam of the Prophet ﷺ (“is the pardon from you or from Allah?”) is a landmark of tawhid.
Death
He lived through the reigns of Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali, went blind in old age (his son guided him and transmitted his narration), and died c. 50 AH in Mu’awiya’s reign, aged ~77.
Cross-references
The Story of Ka'b ibn Malik (The Three Who Stayed Behind) · The Expedition of Tabuk · Sidq (Truthfulness) · The Ansar (the Helpers of Madinah) · Hassan ibn Thabit (ra) · Talha ibn Ubaydillah (ra) · The Second Pledge of Aqabah (Bay'at al-Aqaba al-Thaniya) · The Battle of Uhud · Muhammad ﷺ
Sources
- S011 — Yasir Qadhi Seerah EP 088–089. Sahih Muslim (Book of Repentance) & Sahih Bukhari (Maghazi) for the full narration; Ibn Ishaq, al-Tabari. Quran 9:117–119.