Khubayb ibn Adi (ra)

Ansari Companion, one of the teaching party trapped at al-Raji, sold to Makkah and executed — remembered for the karamah of the grapes, his refusal to harm a child, and for beginning the sunnah of praying two rak’at before execution.

Identity & lineage

A Companion of the Madinan Ansar. At Badr he had killed a man of the Banu al-Harith, which later determined his fate. (Further lineage detail not given in the lectures.)

Role in the Seerah

He was among the ~10 Companions sent under Asim ibn Thabit (ra) as teachers at the faked request of Udal and al-Qara — the trap of al-Raji (Safar 4 AH). When the party was reduced to three, Khubayb, Zayd ibn al-Dathinah, and Abdullah ibn Tariq surrendered on a promise of safety, which was immediately betrayed.

Key episodes

• Sold for revenge. Because he had killed one of the Banu al-Harith at Badr, that tribe purchased him to execute him in Makkah.
• The karamah of the grapes. His captor’s household saw him, though a prisoner in chains, eating from a bunch of grapes — when “there was no bunch of grapes in Makkah at the time.” It was sustenance from Allah. The woman said she had never seen a nobler prisoner.
• Mercy to the child. Given a razor to purify himself before death, a small child wandered to him; the mother cried out in fear. Khubayb was almost insulted: “Are you scared I will kill this child? Wallahi, I will never do such a thing” — the shariah’s absolute prohibition of harming innocents.
• Two rak’at before execution. He asked leave to pray two rak’at, kept them short lest they think him afraid of death, and thereby began the sunnah of praying two rak’at before being executed — an ijtihad later approved. He was then executed (crucified) in Makkah.

Character & lessons

A man of noble akhlaq even in captivity: devoted to purifying himself for Allah, merciful to an enemy’s child, and unafraid of death. Yasir Qadhi contrasts his heart of iman — moral even with a captive’s vengeance in reach — with the heart of kufr of Amir ibn al-Tufayl, who slaughtered a protected messenger and 70 men.

Death

Executed by the Banu al-Harith / Quraysh in Makkah, c. 4 AH (c. 625 CE), a martyr of al-Raji, after praying his two rak’at.

Cross-references

• The Incident of al-Raji — his martyrdom
• Bir Ma’una — the contrast with Amir ibn al-Tufayl
• Amir ibn al-Tufayl — heart of kufr vs. heart of iman
• Badr — the killing that led to his sale
• Safwan ibn Umayyah — buyer of his fellow captive Zayd
• Muhammad ﷺ · Madinah · Makkah

Sources

• S008 — Yasir Qadhi Seerah EP 051–060 (EP 051). Reports on Khubayb’s captivity, the grapes, and the two rak’at are preserved in the classical seerah (Ibn Ishaq) and hadith literature as cited by the lecturer.