An-Nadr ibn Al-Harith

an-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Kaldah al-ʿAbdarī was one of the leading Qurayshī enemies of the Prophet ﷺ. Ibn Isḥāq described him as "shayṭānun min shayāṭīni Quraysh" (a devil among the devils of Quraysh). He was unique among the Quraysh in that before the coming of Islam he had lived abroad in al-Ḥīrah, the capital of the Lakhmīd Dynasty in Iraq, one of the very few Qurayshīs who had received an education outside of Ḥijāz. He brought back with him an extensive knowledge of ancient Persian tales and legends (similar to those later recorded in Firdawsī's Shāhnāmeh).

When Quranic revelation began, an-Naḍr became its most persistent and sarcastic critic. He coined the dismissive phrase "asāṭīr al-awwalīn" (fables of the ancients), and Islamic scholars hold that every reference in the Quran to someone saying this phrase refers primarily to him (Q 25:5, 83:13, 68:15, and others). He would mock: "I can give you better stories than this" and would draw audiences away from the Prophet ﷺ by entertaining them with Persian legends and tales of ancient kings. Allah revealed Q 6:93 in part about him: "And who is more unjust than one who invents a lie about Allah or says 'Revelation has been revealed to me' while nothing was revealed to him?", referring to his boast "sa-unzilu mithla mā anzala Allāh" (I will reveal something like what Allah has revealed).

Together with ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ, he traveled to Yathrib (before the Hijrah) to consult the Jewish scholars there and collect trick questions intended to expose the Prophet ﷺ as a fraud. They came back triumphant, believing they had trapped him with questions about the People of the Cave, Dhūl-Qarnayn, and the Rūḥ, questions that led to the revelation of Sūrat al-Kahf (in one major opinion) and Sūrat Yūsuf (in another).

He was captured at the Battle of Badr and was one of only two prisoners of war ever executed by order of the Prophet ﷺ. He was executed on the Prophet's command on Monday 20 Ramadan 2 AH as the army departed from Badr, making him one of the most uniquely singled-out enemies in the entire Seerah.