al-Arqam ibn Abi al-Arqam

al-Arqam ibn Abī al-Arqam رضي الله عنه was from the Banū Makhzūm clan of Quraysh, the same clan as Abū Jahl. He was approximately 18–19 years old when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم chose his house as the secret meeting place for the Muslim community.

He was among the first ten converts to Islām and had not publicly announced his faith, making him, from the Quraysh's perspective, a young unmarked Makhzūmī nobleman who happened to own a house near the mountain of Ṣafā.

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم chose his house for five interconnected reasons: his clan affiliation with Banū Makhzūm deflected suspicion (no one would imagine a Makhzūmī helping a Hāshimī cause); he was among the earliest and most trusted converts; his youth made him an unlikely candidate for this kind of risk; his Islām was still secret; and his house was located right behind Mount Ṣafā, in the heart of downtown Makkah, making it the most naturally-traffic-heavy area in the city.

Dār al-Arqam (the House of al-Arqam) became the first headquarters of Islām: the place where the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم would meet the community, teach Quran, receive revelations, and where new converts would come after accepting Islām. ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir, Ṣuhayb al-Rūmī, and ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb all accepted Islām here.

al-Arqam lived long enough to see the full triumph of Islām. He never sold his house during his lifetime, it was too sacred to him. It became a landmark in Makkah for generations of scholars and visitors.