Early Life
Abu Hurairah was born in Baha, Yemen into the Banu Daws tribe from the region of Tihamah on the coast of the Red Sea. His father had died, leaving him with only his mother and no other relatives. His name at birth was Abd al-Shams (servant of the sun). However, as a child, he had a cat and became known as "Abu Hurairah" (which literally means "Father of the Kitten" or more idiomatically "Of the kitten").
According to other versions, after embracing Islam Abu Hurairah looked after the mosque and Prophet Muhammad. He made it a regular habit to give the left over food to the stray cats. Gradually the number of cats around the masjid (mosque) increased. He loved to caress and play with them. Hence he got the name Abu Hurairah - Father (care taker) of kitten.
As a young man, he worked for Bushra bint Ghazwan.
In speeches and lectures, in Friday khutbahs and seminars, in the books of hadith and sirah, fiqh and ibadah, the name Abu Hurairah is mentioned in this fashion:
- "On the authority of Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said …".
Through this phrase millions of Muslims, from the early history of Islam to the present, have come to be familiar with the name Abu Hurairah.
Read more about this topic: Abu Hurairah
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:
“In the early forties and fifties almost everybody “had about enough to live on,” and young ladies dressed well on a hundred dollars a year. The daughters of the richest man in Boston were dressed with scrupulous plainness, and the wife and mother owned one brocade, which did service for several years. Display was considered vulgar. Now, alas! only Queen Victoria dares to go shabby.”
—M. E. W. Sherwood (1826–1903)
“The ancients adorned their sarcophagi with the emblems of life and procreation, and even with obscene symbols; in the religions of antiquity the sacred and the obscene often lay very close together. These men knew how to pay homage to death. For death is worthy of homage as the cradle of life, as the womb of palingenesis.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)