Al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAlqama ibn Kalada ibn ʿAbd Manāf ibn Abd al-Dār ibn Quṣayy () (d. 624 CE) was an

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

who lived in the same time and region as the

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

ic prophet

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...

. He was captured after the

Battle of Badr The Battle of Badr ( ar, غَزْوَةُ بَدِرْ ), also referred to as The Day of the Criterion (, ) in the Quran, Qur'an and by Muslims, was fought on 13 March 624 CE (17 Ramadan (calendar month), Ramadan, 2 Anno Hegirae, AH), near the ...

and was executed for criticising and ridiculing

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...

and

. Muhammad commanded to cut his (Al-Nadr's) head before him and that was done as

Ali ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...

beheaded him in front of Muhammad and his companions. It is known that he was a critic of Islam and Muhammad. Surah At-Taubah 61 was sent down after he attacked the prophet Muhammad. After the battle, Muhammad decided to return to Medina. While Muhammad was returning to Medina, he received a revelation regarding the distribution of war booty. This per ''

tafsir Tafsir ( ar, تفسير, tafsīr ) refers to exegesis, usually of the Quran. An author of a ''tafsir'' is a ' ( ar, مُفسّر; plural: ar, مفسّرون, mufassirūn). A Quranic ''tafsir'' attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, in ...

'' was the Quran verse Quran 8:41. According to the authentic Books of history of Islam, two captives – Nadr bin Harith and ‘Uqbah ibn Abū Mu‘ayṭ were beheaded by

. The event is claimed to have inspired Nadr's relative Qutayla to compose an elegy on his death, upbraiding Muhammad for the execution.

Life

Per Islamic traditionists like

Muqatil ibn Sulayman Muqātil ibn Sulaymān () (d. 767 C.E.) was an 8th-century story teller of the Quran. He wrote one of the earliest, if not first, commentaries (tafsir) of the Qur'an still available today. Biography Born in Balkh in Khorasan, there are no works ...

, Nadr had accused Muhammad of plagiarism in his Quranic verses based on the stories of ancient people. He was captured after the

and then

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

Mohar Ali Muhammad Mohar Ali ( bn, মোহাম্মদ মোহার আলী); 1929–2007) was a British Bangladeshi Islamic scholar, historian and barrister. He is the only Bengali to have received the King Faisal International Prize. Acade ...

states that while he did accuse Muhammad of plagiarism, he was

for other offences though he doesn't specify what it was, although he names al-Nadr as one of the assassins who tried to kill Muhammad before his migration to Medina.

David Samuel Margoliouth David Samuel Margoliouth, FBA (; 17 October 1858, in London – 22 March 1940, in London) was an English orientalist. He was briefly active as a priest in the Church of England. He was Laudian Professor of Arabic at the University of Oxford ...

, however, claims that he was executed for his challenge and ridiculing Muhammad, a version supported by some ninth and tenth-century Muslim sources including

Tabari ( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari i ...

who cites an oral report of Muhammad justifying his order on basis of Nadr accusing him.

Al-Waqidi Abu `Abdullah Muhammad Ibn ‘Omar Ibn Waqid al-Aslami (Arabic ) (c. 130 – 207 AH; c. 747 – 823 AD) was a historian commonly referred to as al-Waqidi (Arabic: ). His surname is derived from his grandfather's name Waqid and thus he became fa ...

mentions a report that when Nadr asked the Muslims why he was to be executed, they replied that it was for his persecuting and torturing the Muslim as well as ridiculing the Quran.

Quran verse about the beheading of an-Nadir bin al-Harith

Ibn Kathir also mentions this incident in his book ''

Tafsir Ibn Kathir ''Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm'' better known as ''Tafsir Ibn Kathir'' is the tafsir by Ibn Kathir (died 774 AH). It is one of the most famous Islamic books concerned with the science of interpretation of the Quran. It also includes jurisprud ...

'' and states the Quran verse Quran 8:31 was revealed about an-Nadir bin al-Harith. Ibn Kathir's commentary on Quran 8:31 and Quran 8:5 is as follows:Muhammad Saed Abdul-Rahman
The Meaning and Explanation of the Glorious Qur'an (Vol 3) 2nd Edition
p. 412, , MSA Publication Limited, 2009.
online

References

{{Reflist 7th-century Arabs Year of birth unknown Date of birth unknown Date of death unknown Place of birth unknown Place of death unknown People executed by decapitation 7th-century executions 624 deaths

Life

Quran verse about the beheading of an-Nadir bin al-Harith

See also

References