Abū Aqīl Labīd ibn Rabīʿa ibn Mālik al-ʿĀmirī (; c. 505 – c. 661) was an

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

poet from higher Nejd and a companion of the Islamic prophet

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

. He belonged to the Bani Amir, a division of the tribe of the

Hawazin The Hawazin ( / ALA-LC: ''Hawāzin'') were an Arab tribe originally based in the western Najd and around Ta'if in the Hejaz. They formed part of the larger Qays tribal group. The Hawazin consisted of the subtribes of Banu Sa'd, and Banu Jusham, a ...

. In his younger years he was an active warrior, and his verse is largely concerned with inter-tribal disputes. Later, he was sent by a sick uncle to get a remedy from Muhammad at

Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

and on this occasion was much influenced by a part of the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

's , shortest Surah, ' Al-Kawthar'. He accepted

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

soon after. One of his poems is contained in the

Mu'allaqat The Muʻallaqāt (, ) is a compilation of seven long pre-Islamic Arabic poems. The name means The Suspended Odes or The Hanging Poems, they were named so because these poems were hung in the Kaaba in Mecca. Some scholars have also suggested th ...

. His ''muruwwa'' (virtue) is highlighted in the story that he vowed to feed people whenever the east wind began to blow, and to continue so doing until it stopped. Al-Walid 'Uqba, leader of the Kuffa, sent him one hundred camels to enable him to keep his vow. In an elegy composed for Nu'mh Mundhii, Labid wrote: :''Every thing, but Allah, is vain'' :''And all happiness, unconditionally, will vanish'' :''When a man is on a night journey, he thinks that he has accomplished some deed'' :''But man spends his life in hopes'' :... :''If you do not trust your self, approve it'' :''Perhaps the past would unclose it to you'' :''When you do not find a father other than 'Adnan and Ma'ad,'' :''The judge (God) will punish you'' :''On the day when every body will be informed of his deeds'' :''When the record of his life is opened before Allah'' Muhammad said of the first verse of the above eulogy: "The most true words said by a poet was the words of Labid" and "Verily, Everything except Allah is perishable and Umaiya bin As-Salt was about to be a Muslim (but he did not embrace Islam)." ��aḥīḥ Bukhāri, The Book of Manners, Ḥadīth No. 3841ref>

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The concept of Allah as the highest god in pre-Islamic Arabia
560 births 661 deaths 6th-century Arabic-language poets 7th-century Arabic-language poets Banu Kilab Companions of the Prophet {{MEast-poet-stub