to the radiant city of Madinah, and we have already described how he embraced Islam—may Allah be pleased with him—during the first months after the Prophet’s migration. He died in 35 AH, near the end of ʿUthmān’s caliphate, or at the beginning of 36 AH. Another view holds that his death occurred in the days of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, yet the first opinion is the better-known.
Al-ʿAbbās ibn Yazīd al-Baḥrānī said: “The scholars were unanimous that he lived two hundred and fifty years; they differed only over how much beyond that—some said up to three hundred and fifty.” Later ḥadīth critics, however, maintained that he did not live beyond one hundred years. Allah knows best which report is correct.
Among the Prophet’s freedmen is Shuqrān the Abyssinian, whose personal name was Ṣāliḥ ibn ʿAdiyy. The Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—came to own him by inheritance from his father. Muṣʿab al-Zubayrī and Muḥammad ibn Saʿd state that he belonged to ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf, who then presented him to the Prophet ﷺ.
Imām Aḥmad transmitted—through Isḥāq ibn ʿĪsā, from Abū Maʿshar—that Shuqrān was counted among those who fought at Badr, adding: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ did not allot him a share.” Muḥammad ibn Saʿd likewise listed him among the men of Badr. Because he was a slave, the Prophet did not grant him a fixed portion; instead he put him in charge of the prisoners, and every man who held a captive gave him something, so that Shuqrān received more than a full share.
He went on to say: “There were three other youths at Badr besides him: a slave of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf, a slave of Ḥāṭib ibn Abī Baltaʿah, and a slave of Saʿd ibn Muʿādh. The Prophet gave them token gifts but did not assign them regular portions.”
Abū al-Qāsim al-Baghawī noted: “He is not mentioned among the warriors of Badr in the works of al-Zuhrī or Ibn Isḥāq.”
Al-Wāqidī related—through Abū Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Sabrah, from Abū Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jahm—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ appointed his freedman Shuqrān over everything that was found in the baggage of the people of al-Muraysīʿ: their assorted belongings, weapons, livestock, sheep, and over gathering the women and children to one side.
Imām Aḥmad also said: “Aswad ibn ʿĀmir told us; Muslim ibn Khālid told us; from ʿAmr ibn Yaḥyā al-Māzinī, from his father, from Shuqrān, the freedman of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who said: ‘I saw him—meaning the Prophet ﷺ—on his way to Khaybar, riding a donkey and performing prayer on it, signaling with slight motions.’ These reports confirm that he, may Allah be pleased with him, witnessed those campaigns.”