al-Akhnas ibn Shariq

al-Akhnas ibn Sharīq was an ally of Quraysh, from the tribe of Thaqīf, who had settled in Makkah and become one of its prominent figures. He was one of three senior Meccan leaders who each secretly slipped out of their homes, on three consecutive nights, to stand near the Prophet's صلى الله عليه وسلم house and listen to his Tahajjud recitation. The others were Abū Jahl and Abū Sufyān ibn Ḥarb.

The morning after the third night, when they encountered each other again and were embarrassed for the third time, they made a mutual promise: "If people find out we've been doing this, we lose all credibility. We will not come again."

But al-Akhnas then went to Abū Sufyān and asked what he really thought of the Quran. And he went to Abū Jahl and asked the same. He seemed genuinely moved and was trying to understand what he had heard. Abū Jahl's response, that he could not follow the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم due to tribal competition, was given in private to al-Akhnas, and was later transmitted to the companions.

Some scholars hold that al-Akhnas eventually accepted Islām; others say this is uncertain. His name is not widely known, but this incident makes him a quiet witness to one of the most intimate private moments in the Seerah.