Abu Righal

Abu Righal is a mythical person about whom two entirely different traditions can be distinguished. The Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.) entry is signed by S. A. Bonebakker in the printed text (the queue lists E. Littmann). ¹

According to the first tradition he was a Thaqafite of Ta'if who guided Abraha on his way to Mecca. He died at al-Mughammas and was buried there, and it was the custom to stone his tomb; the article compares a similar custom at al-Jamra. The story is sometimes told to slander the Thaqif. The earliest mention is a verse of Hassan b. Thabit, if it is not an anti-Thaqafite falsification, and the early date of the custom is shown by a verse of Jarir: "If al-Farazdaq dies, stone him as you stone the tomb of Abu Righal." ¹

In the second tradition, found in its simplest form in al-Tabari and Ahmad b. Hanbal, Abu Righal was the only survivor of Thamud. He was in Mecca when the disaster struck and was saved by the sanctity of the place, but he died as soon as he left Mecca, and the Prophet ﷺ told the story as he passed al-Hijr with his army. The article notes that this version does not link him with Thaqif, which was added later, perhaps under the influence of the first story. ¹

The article's last part notes that the Thaqafites figure in the second tradition too: in one version it was they who killed Abu Righal, a cruel and unjust man. Later authors confuse the two traditions further, and al-Diyarbakri gives Abu Righal's name as Zayd b. Mukhallif. The bibliography cites al-Jumahi's Tabaqat, Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Qutayba's Ma'arif, al-Tabari, al-Mas'udi, al-Azraqi, the Aghani and al-Yaqut. The entry's printed signature is S. A. Bonebakker. ²