Ṭalḥa ibn ʿUbayd Allāh al-Taymī ( ar, طَلْحَة بن عُبَيْد اللّه التَّيمي, ) was a
Companion of the Islamic 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 ...
. In
Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagre ...
, he is mostly known for being among ('the ten to whom Paradise was promised'). He played an important role in the
Battle of Uhud
The Battle of Uhud ( ar, غَزْوَة أُحُد, ) was fought on Saturday, 23 March 625 AD (7 Shawwal, 3 AH), in the valley north of Mount Uhud.Watt (1974) p. 136. The Qurayshi Meccans, led by Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, commanded an army of 3,000 m ...
and the
Battle of the Camel
The Battle of the Camel, also known as the Battle of Jamel or the Battle of Basra, took place outside of Basra, Iraq, in 36 AH (656 CE). The battle was fought between the army of the fourth caliph Ali, on one side, and the rebel army led by ...
, in which he died. According to Sunnis, he was given the title "The Generous" by Muhammad.
[سير أعلام النبلاء، لشمس الدين الذهبي، ترجمة طلحة بن عبيد الله، الجزء الأول، صـ 24: 40](_blank)
Biography
Talha was born c.594,
[Muhammad ibn Saad. ''Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir'' vol. 3. Translated by Bewley, A. (2013. ''The Companions of Badr''. London: Ta-Ha Publishers.] A member of the
Taym clan of the Quraysh in
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
, Talha was the son of Ubayd Allah ibn Uthman ibn Amr ibn Ka'b ibn Sa'd ibn Taym ibn Murra ibn Ka'b ibn Lu'ay ibn Ghalib and of al-Sa'ba bint Abd Allah, who was from the Hadram tribe. Talha's lineage meets with that of Muhammad at
Murra ibn Ka'b
Murrah ibn Ka'b ( ar, مُرَّة ٱبْن كَعْب) ibn Luay ibn Ghalib ibn Fihr ibn Malik was a man from Quraysh tribe, supposed to have lived in the 4th century. He was the sixth-in-line of Muhammad's grandfathers. He is the Most recent comm ...
.
Acceptance of Islam
Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall
Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall (born Marmaduke William Pickthall; 7 April 187519 May 1936) was an English Islamic scholar noted for his 1930 English translation of the Quran, called '' The Meaning of the Glorious Koran''. His translation of the Qu ...
describes how
Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr Abdallah ibn Uthman Abi Quhafa (; – 23 August 634) was the senior companion and was, through his daughter Aisha, a father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, as well as the first caliph of Islam. He is known with the honor ...
, after embracing Islam, immediately urged his closest associates to do likewise. Among them were Talha,
Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf ( ar, عبد الرحمن بن عوف) () was one of the companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. One of the wealthiest among the companions, he is known for being one of the ten to whom Paradise was promised.
...
,
Uthman ibn Affan
Uthman ibn Affan ( ar, عثمان بن عفان, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān; – 17 June 656), also spelled by Colloquial Arabic, Turkish and Persian rendering Osman, was a second cousin, son-in-law and notable companion of the Islamic prop ...
, and
Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas
, image = File:Saad ibn Abi Waqqas Masjid an-Nabawi Calligraphy.png
, alt =
, caption = His name in Arabic calligraphy
, birth_date =
, death_date =
, birth_place = Mecca, Hejaz, Arabia
, death_place ...
.
Talha was said to have been one of the first eight converts.
[Muhammad ibn Ishaq. ''Sirat Rasul Allah''. Translated by Guillaume, A. (1955). ''The Life of Muhammad''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.]
Among the converts in Mecca, Talha was given a shared responsibility as a
hafiz, people who memorized every verse of the Quran, along with Abu Bakr, Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf,
Zubayr ibn al-Awwam
Az Zubayr ( ar, الزبير) is a city in and the capital of Al-Zubair District, part of the Basra Governorate of Iraq. The city is just south of Basra. The name can also refer to the old Emirate of Zubair.
The name is also sometimes written Al ...
and Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas. During the persecution of the Muslims in 614–616,
Nawfal ibn Khuwaylid
Nawfal ibn Khuwaylid ibn Asad was one of the non-Muslims who interacted with the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Biography
Nawfal was the son of Khuwaylid ibn Asad and hence a paternal brother of Khadijah. His mother, known only as "Al-Adawiya", was ...
tied Talha to Abu Bakr and left them roped together. Nobody from the Taym clan came to help.
Thereafter they were known as "the Two Tied Together".
Emigration to Medina
In September 622, when Talha was returning from a business trip to Syria, he met with the Muslims who had left Mecca and were
emigrating
Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...
to
Medina
Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...
.
Talha gave them some Syrian garments and mentioned that the Muslim community in Medina had said that their prophet was slow to arrive. As Muhammad and Abu Bakr continued to Medina, Talha returned to Mecca to put his affairs in order. Soon afterwards, he accompanied Abu Bakr's family to Medina, where he settled.
At first he lodged with
As'ad ibn Zurara
Asʿad ibn Zurāra (Arabic: أسعد بن زرارة) (died 623), often known by his ''kunya'' Abū Umāma, was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the first chief in Medina to become a Muslim.
Family
As'ad was the son of Zurara ibn ...
, but later Muhammad gave him a block of land on which he built his own house. He was made the brother in Islam of
Sa'id ibn Zayd
Saʿīd ibn Zayd, ( ar, سعيد ابن زيد; 593-671), also known by his '' kunya'' Abūʾl-Aʿwar, was a companion ( ar, الصحابة) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Sa'id has been described as a tall, hairy, dark-skinned man.
Con ...
.
Talha and Sa'id missed fighting at 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 ...
because Muhammad sent them as scouts to locate
Abu Sufyan's caravan. However, both were awarded shares of the plunder, as if they had been present.
Talha distinguished himself at the
Battle of Uhud
The Battle of Uhud ( ar, غَزْوَة أُحُد, ) was fought on Saturday, 23 March 625 AD (7 Shawwal, 3 AH), in the valley north of Mount Uhud.Watt (1974) p. 136. The Qurayshi Meccans, led by Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, commanded an army of 3,000 m ...
by keeping close to Muhammad while most of the Muslim army fled. He protected Muhammad's face from an arrow by taking the shot in his own hand, as a result of which his index and middle fingers were cut. He was also hit twice in the head, and it was said that he suffered a total of 39
or 75
wounds. Toward the end of the battle, Talha fainted from his heavy injuries,
[ The Beginning and the End, by Ibn Kathir al-Dimashqi, Part IV, Chapter: What the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, met on that day from the polytheists, may God vilify them ] Abu Bakar soon reached their location to check Muhammad condition first, who immediately instructing Abu Bakar to check the condition of Talha, who already passed out due to his severe bloodloss.
and his hand was left paralysed.
For this heroic defence of Muhammad, Talha earned the byname "the living martyr".
Talha is said to be the anonymous believer counted as a "martyr" in .
Abu Bakr also called the battle of Uhud "the day of Talha".
Talha fought at the
Battle of the Trench
The Battle of the Trench ( ar, غزوة الخندق, Ghazwat al-Khandaq), also known as the Battle of Khandaq ( ar, معركة الخندق, Ma’rakah al-Khandaq) and the Battle of the Confederates ( ar, غزوة الاحزاب, Ghazwat al- ...
and all the
campaigns of Muhammad.
During the
Expedition of Dhu Qarad
The Expedition of Dhu Qarad also known as the Expedition of Ghaba took place in September, 627AD, 6AH of the Islamic calendar, some scholars say that it took place just before the Battle of Khaybar, in the 12th month of 6AH.Note: Book contains a ...
, Talha personally sponsored the operation through his wealth, thus causing Muhammad to give him the sobriquet "Talha al-Fayyad".
Talha is included among
the ten to whom Paradise was promised
The ten to whom Paradise was promised (Arabic: ar, العشرة المبشرون, translit=al-ʿashara al-mubashsharūn, label=none or ar, العشرة المبشرة, translit=al-ʿashara al-mubashshara, label=none) were ten early Muslims to w ...
.
Ridda Wars
In the third week of July 632, Medina faced an imminent invasion by the
apostate forces of
Tulayha
Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid ibn Nawfal al-Asadi ( ar, طليحة بن خويلد بن نوفل الأسدي) was a wealthy Arab clan chief and military commander during the time of Muhammad; he belonged to the Banu Asad ibn Khuzaymah tribe.
In 625 he ...
, a self-proclaimed prophet. Abu Bakr scraped together an army mainly from the
Hashim
Hashim ( ar, هاشم) is a common male Arabic given name.
Hashim may also refer to:
*Hashim Amir Ali
*Hashim (poet)
*Hashim Amla
*Hashim Thaçi
*Hashim Khan
* Hashim Qureshi
* Mir Hashim Ali Khan
*Hashim al-Atassi
*Hashim ibn Abd Manaf
*Hashim ib ...
clan (the clan of Muhammad), appointing Talha,
Ali ibn Abi Talib
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. ...
and Zubayr each as commanders of one-third of the newly organised force.
Rashidun caliphate
For the rest of his life, Talha served
Majlis-ash-Shura
In Arab culture, a Majlis-ash-Shura ( ar, مجلس الشورى; Shura Council in English) is an advisory council or consultative council. In Islamic context, the Majlis-ash-Shura is one of two ways that a khalifa (Islamic leader) may be selected ...
as a council member of the Rashidun caliphate.
In 635 to 636, caliph
Umar
ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ( ar, عمر بن الخطاب, also spelled Omar, ) was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate o ...
assembled his council, including Zubayr, Ali and Talha, about the battle plan to face the Persian army of
Rostam Farrokhzad
Rostam Farrokhzād ( fa, رستم فرخزاد) was an Iranian dynast from the Ispahbudhan family, who served as the ''spahbed'' ("military marshal") of the northwestern quarter (''kust'') of Adurbadagan during the reign of Boran () and Yazdege ...
in Qadisiyyah.
At first the caliph himself led the forces from Arabia to Iraq,
but the council urges Umar not to lead the army in person and instead appoint someone else, as his presence was needed more urgently in the capital.
Umar agreed and asked the council to suggest a commander. The council agreed to send
Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas
, image = File:Saad ibn Abi Waqqas Masjid an-Nabawi Calligraphy.png
, alt =
, caption = His name in Arabic calligraphy
, birth_date =
, death_date =
, birth_place = Mecca, Hejaz, Arabia
, death_place ...
; Sa'd served as the overall commander on Persian conquest and won the
Battle of al-Qadisiyyah
The Battle of al-Qadisiyyah ( ar, مَعْرَكَة ٱلْقَادِسِيَّة, Maʿrakah al-Qādisīyah; fa, نبرد قادسیه, Nabard-e Qâdisiyeh) was an armed conflict which took place in 636 CE between the Rashidun Caliphate and the ...
.
Later, the caliph heard that Sassanid forces from Mah,
Qom,
Hamadan
Hamadan () or Hamedan ( fa, همدان, ''Hamedān'') ( Old Persian: Haŋgmetana, Ecbatana) is the capital city of Hamadan Province of Iran. At the 2019 census, its population was 783,300 in 230,775 families. The majority of people living in Ha ...
,
Ray,
Isfahan
Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its Achaemenid empire, ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in Sassanian Empire, middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Regio ...
,
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
, and
Nahavand
Nahavand ( fa, نهاوند, translit=Nahāvand / Nehāvend) is a city in Hamadan Province, Iran. It is the capital of Nahavand County. At the time of the 2006 census, its population was 72,218, in 19,419 families. It is located south of the ci ...
had gathered in Nahavand to counter the Arab invasion.
Caliph Umar responded by assembling a war council consisting of Zubayr, Ali, Uthman ibn Affan, Talha, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf, and
Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib
Al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib ( ar, ٱلْعَبَّاسُبْنُ عَبْدِ ٱلْمُطَّلِبِ, al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib; CE) was a paternal uncle and Sahabi (companion) of Muhammad, just three years older than his ...
to discuss the strategy to face the Sassanids in Nahavand.
The caliph want to lead the army himself, but Ali urged the caliph to instead delegate the battlefield commands to the field commanders, prompting the caliph decides instead delegate the reinforcement commands to Zubayr, Tulayha,
Amr ibn Ma'adi Yakrib
Amr ibn Ma'adi Yakrib al-Zubaīdi al-Madḥ'hijī ( ar, عمرو بن معد يكرب الزبيدي المذحجي) (died c. 642) was an Arabian calvary commander from the Zubaid clan in Yemen, part of the Madhhij tribe confederation. Amr has ...
,
Abdullah ibn Amr Al-Ash'ath ibn Qays
Abū Muḥammad Maʿdīkarib ibn Qays ibn Maʿdīkarib (), better known as al-Ashʿath (died ca. 661), was a chieftain of the Kinda tribe of Hadhramawt and founder of the one of the leading noble Arab households of Kufa, one of the two main garr ...
and others under the command of
Al-Nu'man ibn Muqrin
An-Numan ibn Muqarrin ( ar, النعمان بن مقرن) (died December 641) was a companion of Muhammad. He was the leader of the tribe of Banu Muzaynah. The tribe of Banu Muzaynah had their habitations some distance from Yathrib on the carav ...
to go to Nahavand,
to face the army of the
Sasanian Empire
The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the History of Iran, last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th cen ...
in the
battle of Nahavand
The Battle of Nahavand ( ar, معركة نهاوند ', fa, نبرد نهاوند '), also spelled Nihavand or Nahawand, was fought in 642 between the Rashidun Muslim forces under caliph Umar and Sasanian Persian armies under King Yazdegerd ...
.
Battle of the Camel and death
![Tomb of Talha](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Tomb_of_Talha.jpg)
The
Battle of the Camel
The Battle of the Camel, also known as the Battle of Jamel or the Battle of Basra, took place outside of Basra, Iraq, in 36 AH (656 CE). The battle was fought between the army of the fourth caliph Ali, on one side, and the rebel army led by ...
was fought between Ali on one side and
Aisha
Aisha ( ar, , translit=ʿĀʾisha bint Abī Bakr; , also , ; ) was Muhammad's third and youngest wife. In Islamic writings, her name is thus often prefixed by the title "Mother of the Believers" ( ar, links=no, , ʾumm al-mu'min, muʾminīn), ...
, Talha and Zubayr on the other on 10 December 656. According to some sources, during the battle,
Marwan ibn al-Hakam
Marwan ibn al-Hakam ibn Abi al-As ibn Umayya ( ar, links=no, مروان بن الحكم بن أبي العاص بن أمية, Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ ibn Umayya), commonly known as MarwanI (623 or 626April/May 685), was the fo ...
, who was fighting on the same side as Aisha, shot Talha in the thigh. Marwan commented, "After this, I will never again seek a killer of Uthman.". His motivations for killing Talha were because of Talha's involvement in the killing of
Uthman
Uthman ibn Affan ( ar, عثمان بن عفان, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān; – 17 June 656), also spelled by Colloquial Arabic, Turkish and Persian rendering Osman, was a second cousin, son-in-law and notable companion of the Islamic proph ...
. Other sources attribute Talha's death to being killed by Ali's supporters while retreating from the field.
[Modern Muslim Objections to Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī,Modern Muslim Objections to Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī,Nebil Husayn,2022,page 159]
Family
Talha had at least fifteen children by at least eight different women.
[Muhammad ibn Saad. ''Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir'' vol. 8. Translated by Bewley, A. (1995). ''The Women of Madina''. London: Ta-Ha Publishers:]
The known descendants of Talha by his various wives and concubines have divided into six lines.
Personal characteristics
Talha was described as a dark-skinned man with a great deal of wavy hair, a handsome face and a narrow nose. He liked to wear saffron-dyed clothes and musk. He walked swiftly and, when nervous, he would toy with his ring, which was of gold and set with a ruby.
Talha was a successful cloth-merchant who eventually left an estate estimated at 30 million ''dirhams''.
According to modern writer Asad Ahmed, Talha possessed wealth that second only to that of Uthman ibn Affan.
A report from
Munzir ibn Sawa Al-Tamimi states that Talha had one property in Iraq that yielded four to five hundred
dinar
The dinar () is the principal currency unit in several countries near the Mediterranean Sea, and its historical use is even more widespread.
The modern dinar's historical antecedents are the gold dinar and the silver dirham, the main coin of ...
in gold.
His enterprises included the initiation of ''al-Qumh'' (wheat) agricultural work among his community.
Talha was said to have accumulated his lucrative properties and wealth by exchanging those that he acquired from the
battle of Khaybar
The Battle of Khaybar ( ar, غَزْوَة خَيْبَر, label=Classical Arabic, Arabic) was fought in 628 Common Era, CE between the early Muslims led by Muhammad and Jews living in Khaybar, an oasis located 150 km from Medina in the n ...
for the properties in Iraq that were possessed by Arab Hejazi settlers there and from the transaction of several land properties in
Hadhramaut
Hadhramaut ( ar, حَضْرَمَوْتُ \ حَضْرَمُوتُ, Ḥaḍramawt / Ḥaḍramūt; Hadramautic: 𐩢𐩳𐩧𐩣𐩩, ''Ḥḍrmt'') is a region in South Arabia, comprising eastern Yemen, parts of western Oman and southern Sau ...
with Uthman.
Talha is also said to have drawn profits from his lifetime of trade in Syria and Yemen.
Tomb
The tomb of Talha ibn Ubayd Allah is located in
Basra
Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...
, Iraq. It is near a large mosque with modern architecture. The grave itself is under the
cenotaph
A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although the vast majority of cenot ...
under the dome, which is built in a similar style to the cenotaph of Anas ibn Malik.
See also
*
Sunni view of the Sahaba
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word ''Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagree ...
*
List of Sahabah
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
*
The ten to whom Paradise was promised
The ten to whom Paradise was promised (Arabic: ar, العشرة المبشرون, translit=al-ʿashara al-mubashsharūn, label=none or ar, العشرة المبشرة, translit=al-ʿashara al-mubashshara, label=none) were ten early Muslims to w ...
*
Aisha
Aisha ( ar, , translit=ʿĀʾisha bint Abī Bakr; , also , ; ) was Muhammad's third and youngest wife. In Islamic writings, her name is thus often prefixed by the title "Mother of the Believers" ( ar, links=no, , ʾumm al-mu'min, muʾminīn), ...
*
Banu Taym
)
, type = Qurayshi / Adnanite Arabs
, image = Banu Taym Allah Flag.svg
, image_size = 150 px
, alt =
, caption = Banner of Banu Taym
, nisba = At-Taymī ()
, location = Western Arabian Peninsula, especially in ...
References
Sources
*
*
*
{{Authority control
594 births
656 deaths
6th-century Arabs
7th-century Arabs
Arab Muslims
Sahabah killed in battle
Sahabah who participated in the battle of Uhud
People of the First Fitna
Sahabah hadith narrators
Military personnel killed by friendly fire
Banu Taym