Among the men who served as scribes in the Prophet’s presence was the Commander of the Believers, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb—may Allah be pleased with him. His biography will be given in its proper place. I have dedicated a separate volume to his life, and a sizable tome to the hadiths he narrated from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, as well as to the reports and legal rulings transmitted on his authority. His service as a scribe has already been noted in the entry on ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Arqam.

Another of the scribes—may Allah be pleased with them all—was al-ʿAlāʾ ibn al-Ḥaḍramī. His father’s name was ʿAbbād, though some identify him as ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbād ibn Akbar ibn Rabīʿah ibn ʿUwayf ibn Mālik ibn al-Khazraj ibn Ayyād ibn al-Ṣadaf ibn Zayd ibn Muqniʿ ibn Ḥaḍramawt ibn Qaḥṭān; other lines of descent have also been mentioned. He was an ally of the Banū Umayyah. His role as a scribe has already been discussed in the biography of Abān ibn Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ.

Al-ʿAlāʾ had ten brothers. Among them was ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥaḍramī, the first idolater to be killed by the Muslims; he fell in the expedition led by ʿAbdullāh ibn Jahsh, the very first such expedition, as noted earlier. Another was ʿĀmir ibn al-Ḥaḍramī, whom Abū Jahl—may Allah curse him—ordered to bare his private parts and cry out, “Wā ʿAmrāh!” when the Muslims and the idolaters lined up at Badr; this provoked the battle and set it in motion, as we have already detailed. A third brother was Shurayḥ ibn al-Ḥaḍramī, counted among the finest of the Companions. Concerning him the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “That is a man who does not use the Qur’an as a pillow,” meaning that he never sleeps after setting it aside but recites it during the hours of the night and day.

All of them shared a single sister, al-Ṣaʿbah bint al-Ḥaḍramī, the mother of Ṭalḥah ibn ʿUbaydullāh.

The Prophet ﷺ dispatched al-ʿAlāʾ ibn al-Ḥaḍramī to al-Mundhir ibn Sāwā, the ruler of Bahrain, and, after its conquest, appointed him governor there. Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq confirmed him in that post, as did ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, until the latter relieved him and appointed him over Basra instead. While he was on the way, he died in the year 21 AH. Al-Bayhaqī has narrated