{
 "id": "person/abdullah-ibn-salam",
 "class": "person",
 "slug": "abdullah-ibn-salam",
 "label": {
  "en": "Abdullah ibn Salam",
  "ar": "عبد الله بن سلام"
 },
 "summary": {
  "en": "A learned rabbi of Banu Qaynuqa' who examined the Prophet, declared him genuine, and became the most famous Jewish convert of Medina — held in Sunni tradition as one promised paradise.",
  "ar": "حبر عالم من بني قينقاع اختبر النبي فشهد بصدقه وأسلم، فصار أشهر من أسلم من يهود المدينة — ويعدّه التراث السني من المبشرين بالجنة."
 },
 "stub": false,
 "wings": [
  "people"
 ],
 "regions": [
  "arabia"
 ],
 "periods": [
  "period/prophetic-era"
 ],
 "tags": [],
 "aliases": [],
 "themes": [
  "converts-and-leavers",
  "islam-and-judaism",
  "scripture-and-its-sciences"
 ],
 "span": {
  "earliest": 550.0009582674525,
  "latest": 663.9991923174011
 },
 "display": {
  "start": {
   "edtf": "0550~",
   "calendar": "julian",
   "precision": "decade",
   "status": "tradition",
   "sources": [
    "source/ibn-sad-tabaqat-bewley"
   ]
  },
  "end": {
   "edtf": "0663~",
   "calendar": "julian",
   "precision": "year",
   "status": "tradition",
   "note": "Died at Medina, ~43 AH.",
   "sources": [
    "source/ibn-sad-tabaqat-bewley"
   ]
  }
 },
 "data": {
  "names": [
   {
    "kind": "full",
    "lang": "ar",
    "value": "عبد الله بن سلام"
   },
   {
    "kind": "given",
    "lang": "ar",
    "value": "الحصين بن سلام"
   }
  ],
  "gender": "male",
  "born": {
   "edtf": "0550~",
   "calendar": "julian",
   "precision": "decade",
   "status": "tradition",
   "sources": [
    "source/ibn-sad-tabaqat-bewley"
   ]
  },
  "died": {
   "edtf": "0663~",
   "calendar": "julian",
   "precision": "year",
   "status": "tradition",
   "note": "Died at Medina, ~43 AH.",
   "sources": [
    "source/ibn-sad-tabaqat-bewley"
   ]
  },
  "roles": [
   "scholar"
  ],
  "traditions": [],
  "story_roles": [
   {
    "role": "scholar",
    "start": {
     "edtf": "0610~"
    },
    "status": "tradition",
    "note": "A learned man of the Jewish community of Medina before Islam; the tradition preserves his questions to the Prophet.",
    "sources": [
     "source/ibn-sad-tabaqat-bewley"
    ]
   },
   {
    "role": "convert",
    "start": {
     "edtf": "0622"
    },
    "status": "tradition",
    "note": "Converted at the Prophet's arrival in Medina, publicly against the counsel of his own community.",
    "sources": [
     "source/ibn-sad-tabaqat-bewley",
     "source/ibn-ishaq-guillaume"
    ]
   },
   {
    "role": "companion",
    "start": {
     "edtf": "0622"
    },
    "end": {
     "edtf": "0632"
    },
    "status": "tradition",
    "note": "Counted among the companions; in the tradition, one of those named as promised paradise.",
    "sources": [
     "source/ibn-sad-tabaqat-bewley"
    ]
   }
  ],
  "faith": [
   {
    "value": "jewish",
    "basis": "documented",
    "end": {
     "edtf": "0622"
    },
    "note": "A rabbi of Banu Qaynuqa'.",
    "sources": [
     "source/watt-1956-medina"
    ]
   },
   {
    "value": "sunni",
    "basis": "tradition",
    "start": {
     "edtf": "0622"
    },
    "note": "Convert and companion.",
    "sources": [
     "source/ibn-sad-tabaqat-bewley"
    ]
   }
  ],
  "labelled": [
   {
    "label": {
     "en": "Ibn al-habr (son of the rabbi)",
     "ar": "ابن الحبر"
    },
    "by": "the Muslim community",
    "status": "tradition",
    "sources": [
     "source/ibn-sad-tabaqat-bewley"
    ]
   }
  ],
  "issue": {
   "ar": "كيف تُقدَّم قصة إسلام عبد الله بن سلام ودلالتها؟",
   "en": "How is the story of Abdullah ibn Salam's conversion presented, and what does it signify?"
  },
  "perspectives": [
   {
    "tradition": "sunni",
    "id": "sunni",
    "summary": {
     "en": "The model sincere convert: a scholar of the older scripture who recognized the Prophet and bore witness openly, against his community's disapproval."
    },
    "sources": [
     "source/ibn-sad-tabaqat-bewley"
    ]
   },
   {
    "tradition": "academic",
    "id": "academic",
    "summary": {
     "en": "Historians note the account serves apologetic ends — a Jewish scholar validating the Prophet — while accepting that individual conversions from Medina's Jewish tribes did occur."
    },
    "sources": [
     "source/watt-1956-medina"
    ]
   }
  ],
  "sources": [
   "source/ibn-sad-tabaqat-bewley",
   "source/ibn-ishaq-guillaume",
   "source/watt-1956-medina"
  ],
  "status": {
   "review": "draft",
   "completeness": 2,
   "generated_by": "Devin; 2026-10-11"
  }
 },
 "prose": {
  "ar": {
   "sections": [
    {
     "heading": "نبذة",
     "markdown": "عبد الله بن سلام حبر عالم من بني قينقاع اختبر النبي حين قدومه المدينة فشهد بصدقه وأسلم — أشهر من أسلم من يهود عصره."
    },
    {
     "heading": "الحياة",
     "markdown": "يعطيه التراث اسمًا قبل الإسلام، الحصين بن سلام، ومشهدًا عند وصول النبي: أسئلة تُطرح وتُجاب بما يرضي عالمًا. فأعلن إسلامه جهارًا — ويضيف التراث أن قومه لما سمعوه كذّبوه، وكانوا قبل لحظات يقولون سيدنا وابن سيدنا {cite:ibn-sad-tabaqat-bewley}.\n\nويُعدّ من الصحابة، وفي تراث الحديث ممن بُشّر بالجنة. مات بالمدينة نحو سنة 663م {cite:ibn-sad-tabaqat-bewley}.\n\n:::perspectives\nيعدّه التراث السني مثال المهتدي الصادق: عالم الكتاب الأقدم الذي عرف النبي وشهد علنًا خلافًا لرضا قومه.\n\nأما المؤرخون فيلاحظون أن الحكاية تخدم غرضًا دفاعيًّا — عالم يهودي يصادق على النبي — وهم يقبلون وقوع حالات إسلام فردية من قبائل يهود المدينة.\n:::"
    },
    {
     "heading": "للزوار الصغار",
     "markdown": "اختبر عالم يهودي النبي بأصعب أسئلته — وخرج مقتنعًا."
    }
   ],
   "frontmatter": {
    "id": "person/abdullah-ibn-salam",
    "lang": "ar",
    "source_lang": "en",
    "translators": []
   }
  },
  "en": {
   "sections": [
    {
     "heading": "Brief",
     "markdown": "Abdullah ibn Salam was a learned rabbi of Banu Qaynuqa' who examined the Prophet on his arrival in Medina, declared him genuine, and converted — the most famous Jewish convert of the era."
    },
    {
     "heading": "Life",
     "markdown": "The tradition gives him a name before Islam, al-Husayn ibn Salam, and a scene at the Prophet's arrival: questions put and answered to a scholar's satisfaction. He declared his Islam publicly — the tradition adding that his own community, hearing him, called him a liar where moments before they had called him their master {cite:ibn-sad-tabaqat-bewley}.\n\nHe is counted among the companions, and in the hadith tradition among those named as promised paradise. He died at Medina around 663 CE {cite:ibn-sad-tabaqat-bewley}.\n\n:::perspectives\nSunni tradition holds him as the model sincere convert: a scholar of the older scripture who recognized the Prophet and bore witness openly, against his community's disapproval.\n\nHistorians note that the account also serves apologetic ends — a Jewish scholar validating the Prophet — while accepting that conversions from Medina's Jewish tribes did occur.\n:::"
    },
    {
     "heading": "For young visitors",
     "markdown": "A Jewish scholar tested the Prophet with his hardest questions — and came away convinced."
    }
   ],
   "frontmatter": {
    "id": "person/abdullah-ibn-salam",
    "lang": "en",
    "source_lang": "en",
    "translators": []
   }
  }
 },
 "degree": 8,
 "contemporaries": [
  "person/halima-al-sadiyya",
  "person/umm-ayman",
  "person/abu-sufyan-ibn-harb",
  "person/amr-ibn-al-as",
  "person/salman-al-farisi",
  "person/abbas-ibn-abd-al-muttalib",
  "person/uthman-ibn-affan",
  "person/umm-salama",
  "person/al-walid-ibn-al-mughira",
  "person/sajah",
  "person/abu-talib",
  "person/suhayl-ibn-amr"
 ],
 "connections": [
  {
   "to": "place/medina",
   "type": "born_in",
   "inverse": false
  },
  {
   "to": "place/medina",
   "type": "died_in",
   "inverse": false
  },
  {
   "to": "group/banu-qaynuqa",
   "type": "member_of",
   "inverse": false
  },
  {
   "to": "person/muhammad",
   "type": "converted_under",
   "inverse": false,
   "start": {
    "edtf": "0622"
   },
   "sources": [
    "source/ibn-sad-tabaqat-bewley"
   ]
  }
 ],
 "related": [
  "event/constitution-of-medina",
  "event/siege-of-banu-qaynuqa",
  "person/abu-hurayra",
  "person/safiyya-bint-huyayy",
  "place/medina",
  "event/conversion-of-umayr-ibn-wahb",
  "event/delegation-of-hamdan",
  "event/delegation-of-thaqif"
 ],
 "license": {
  "prose": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
  "data": "CC0 1.0"
 }
}