Abu Hurayra
أبو هريرة
c. 603 CE – c. 681 CE · c. 61 AH† †
† Hijri date derived by computation from the Gregorian/Julian date; it may differ from the transmitted date by a day or two.
A convert of the Khaybar years who became, by far, the most prolific narrator of hadith in the Sunni collections — a fact celebrated by the tradition and debated by scholars.
At a glance
- Roles
- Companion · Scholar
- Tradition
- Sunni · Shia (Twelver)
- Era
- The Prophetic Era · The Rashidun Caliphate
- Region
- Arabia
- Review
- Draft Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it
In time
In space
Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph
Scripture and its sciencesConverts and those who leave
Place in the story
- Convert to Islam · c. 629 CE · c. 8 AH†Tradition
- Companion · c. 629 CE · c. 8 AH†Tradition
- Transmitter · c. 632 CE · c. 11 AH†Tradition
- Official · c. 638 CE · c. 17 AH†Tradition
Sunni (transmitted)
Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.
Brief
Abu Hurayra knew the Prophet for only about three years — and narrated more hadith than anyone else in the Sunni collections. How one man produced thousands of reports is the question scholars still ask.
Life
A man of the tribe of Daws in the Yemeni highlands, he came to Medina and embraced Islam about 629 CE, around the time of Khaybar 1. For the remaining years of the Prophet's life, the tradition pictures him permanently at the mosque's edge — poor, often hungry, memorizing 1.
After 632 he became the flood: reports in his name run into the thousands in the Sunni collections, on law, ritual, the afterlife, and the Prophet's sayings. He served briefly as governor of Bahrayn under Umar, and died in Medina about 678–681 1.
Legacy
However the reports are weighed, a large part of what Sunni Islam knows the Prophet said reaches us through this one man's memory.
For young visitors
Abu Hurayra spent three years with the Prophet and remembered so much that his name sits under thousands of stories and sayings — more than anyone else's.
Opinions on the question
The question: How is Abu Hurayra and his transmission of hadith assessed?
First opinion · Sunni tradition (the museum's frame)Main reference
More opinions (2)
Academic viewSecondary opinion
Twelver Shia viewOther opinion
Connections
- Died in
- Medina
- Member of
- The early Muslim community
- Converted under
- Muhammad
- Participated in
- The Conquest of Khaybar
- Mentioned in
- Arba'un 9 — what I forbid you, avoidArba'un 10 — God is pure and accepts only what is pureArba'un 12 — leaving what does not concern oneArba'un 15 — speak good or keep silentArba'un 16 — do not become angry
People and things also explored
Abdullah ibn Mas'udSafiyya bint HuyayySalman al-FarisiThe Battle of the Trench (al-Ahzab)The Battle of UhudThe HijraAbdullah ibn SalamMuhammad
Sources
- Ibn Sa'd, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir (Bewley translation, Ta-Ha)
- Watt, Muhammad at Medina (1956)
- Momen, An Introduction to Shi'i Islam (1985)
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Abu Hurayra”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/abu-hurayra/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-12.