1 of 2 · 9 AH · 630 CE · Madinah
Abu 'Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah رضي الله عنه
The Trustworthy One
'Amir ibn 'Abdillah, known as Abu 'Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah, was one of the early Muslims who came to Islam through Abu Bakr, and he migrated to Abyssinia and then to Madinah. He was known for being gentle, modest and unassuming.
A delegation from Najran, a Christian community, came to the Prophet ﷺ and asked that he send them a trustworthy man. The Prophet ﷺ said that he would send them a truly trustworthy man, a truly trustworthy man, and the Companions all craned their necks hoping to be chosen.
The Prophet ﷺ stood and said, "Rise, Abu 'Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah." When he rose, the Prophet ﷺ said, "This is the trustworthy one of this Ummah" (Sahih al-Bukhari 3745; Sahih Muslim 2419).
Trust is the quiet quality that people notice last and miss most.
Would the people closest to you describe you as someone who can be trusted with anything?
- Sahih al-Bukhari 3745 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih Muslim 2419 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-KubraHistorical report
What the hadith grades mean
- Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
- Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
- Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
- Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
- Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
- The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
- Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
- Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.
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