2 of 2 · 610 CE · the night of the first revelation · Makkah
Waraqah ibn Nawfal
"This Is the Namus"
The Prophet ﷺ came home from the cave of Hira trembling, and Khadijah comforted him. Then she took him to her cousin. "O son of my uncle," she said, "listen to your nephew." Waraqah asked, "My nephew, what have you seen?" and the Prophet ﷺ told him everything.
Waraqah said: "This is the Namus whom Allah sent down to Musa. I wish I were young; I wish I could be alive when your people drive you out." The Namus is the keeper of secrets, the angel Jibril. The Prophet ﷺ asked, "Will they drive me out?" Waraqah answered: "Yes. No man ever came with the like of what you have brought without being met with hostility. If I live to see your day, I will support you with all my strength" (Sahih al-Bukhari 3; Sahih Muslim 160).
He did not live to see that day. 'A'ishah says that it was not long before Waraqah died, and the revelation paused for a time. The one learned man of Makkah who had confirmed the Prophet ﷺ in his first hours was gone, but his words had already done their work.
Waraqah used what he knew to confirm the truth, not to resist it. Knowledge is a blessing when it leads its owner to bow to the truth.
When the truth reaches you, do you look for reasons to accept it or reasons to put it off?
- Sahih al-Bukhari 3 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih Muslim 160 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
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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