Al-Barra' ibn Ma'rur

Al-Bara' ibn Ma'rur ibn Sakhr ibn Khansa' ibn Sinan ibn 'Ubayd ibn 'Adi ibn Ghunm ibn Ka'b ibn Salama ibn Sa'd ibn 'Ali ibn Asad ibn Sardah ibn Tazid ibn Jashm ibn Al-Khazraji Al-Ansari

Al-Khazraji Al-Salami, His kunya: Abu Bishr, His mother: Al-Rabab bint Al-Nu'man ibn Amr Al-Qays ibn Zayd ibn 'Abd Al-Ashhal, his uncle Sa'd ibn Mu'adh.

He was one of the leaders, he was the leader of the Banu Salama, and the first to pledge allegiance to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on the first night of Al-Aqaba in the opinion of some, and the first to face the qibla, and he recommended that one-third of his wealth be given in charity, and he died in the early days of Islam during the lifetime of the Prophet ﷺ.

Ka'b ibn Malik narrated, and he was among those who pledged allegiance to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on the night of Al-Aqaba, He said: We set out with the pilgrims of our people from the polytheists, and we had prayed and been guided, and we had Al-Bara' ibn Ma'rur, our leader and our chief, with us, Al-Bara' said to us: O you people, I have seen that I should not leave this building, meaning: the Ka'bah, behind me, and I should pray towards it, He said: We said: By Allah, we have not been informed that our Prophet ﷺ prays except towards the Sham, and we do not want to disagree with him, He said: I will pray towards it, He said: We said to him: We will not do that, He said: So when we approached the time of prayer, we prayed towards the Sham, and he prayed towards the Ka'bah until we arrived in Makkah, He said: O my nephew, let us go to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ until we ask him about what I did on this journey of mine, for by Allah, something has occurred to me from him regarding the disagreement between you and me.

He said: So we set out to ask about the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and we did not know him before that, and we had not seen him, He said: So we entered the mosque, and then we sat with him, He said: Al-Bara' ibn Ma'rur said: O Messenger of Allah, I set out on this journey and Allah ﷿ guided me to Islam, so I saw that I should not leave this building behind me, so I prayed towards it, and my companions disagreed with me in that, until something occurred to me from that, so what do you think, O Messenger of Allah? He said: I was on the qibla that if you had been patient with it, He said: So Al-Bara' returned to the qibla of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and prayed with us towards the Sham.

He said: And his family claims that he prayed towards the Ka'bah until he died, but that is not as they say, we know more about him than they do.

He said: So we set out for Hajj, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ appointed us to meet him at Al-Aqaba in the middle of the days of Al-Tashriq, so when we finished the Hajj, we gathered that night at Al-Sha'b waiting for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and he came, and with him was Al-Abbas, meaning: his uncle, He said: So Al-Abbas spoke, We said to him: We have heard what you said, so speak, O Messenger of Allah, take for yourself and for your Lord ﷿ and speak, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ spoke, reciting the Quran, and calling to Allah ﷿ and desiring Islam, He said: I pledge allegiance to you on the condition that you will prevent me from what you prevent from your women and children, He said: So Al-Bara' ibn Ma'rur took his hand, He said: By the One who sent you with the truth, we will prevent you from what we prevent from our women and children, so we pledged allegiance to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and by Allah, we are the people of the circle, and we inherited it from the elder to the elder.