Amir ibn Rabi'ah

ʿĀmir ibn Rabīʿah رضي الله عنه was a Companion whose lineage is given as ʿĀmir ibn Rabīʿah ibn Kaʿb. In Makkah he was closely attached to Banū ʿAdī because al-Khaṭṭāb ibn Nufayl had adopted him before Islam, so he is often described through that alliance even though Rabīʿah ibn Kaʿb remains his biological father.

He was among the first fifteen to emigrate to Abyssinia, along with his wife Layla. While his wife was loading the camel for departure, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb passed by. Layla snapped at him in anger about the persecution. ʿUmar responded with unexpected compassion, "Has the matter reached that level?", and made Duʿāʾ for them.

When Layla told her husband about this exchange, ʿĀmir was dismissive. He said: "Do you really think Umar will become Muslim? The donkeys of his father's house will embrace Islām before he does." (Lā ḥimāru bayti al-Khaṭṭāb.) Two years later, ʿUmar had become a Muslim. The encounter was later cited as an early sign of what was already stirring inside ʿUmar.