Abu Waqid al-Laythi
أَبُو وَاقِد اللَّيْثِيّAbū Wāqid al-Laythī
Read the full storyBiography
A Companion of Banū Layth who had accepted Islam only about a week before, at the Conquest. Marching to Ḥunayn the army passed a great green tree, Dhāt Anwāṭ, on which the pagans used to hang their weapons for blessing; Abū Wāqid asked the Prophet ﷺ to appoint the Muslims such a tree of their own. The Prophet ﷺ exclaimed SubḥānAllāh and said he had asked exactly what the Children of Israel asked of Mūsā, "make for us a god", yet excused him for his ignorance as a new Muslim. He narrated the famous hadith of Dhāt Anwāṭ.
Significance
His innocent request for a good-luck tree yielded a foundational hadith on talismans, shirk, and the excuse of ignorance.