Az-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam

Al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām (raḍiyallāhu ʿanhu) was one of the earliest converts to Islām and one of the ten Companions promised Jannah (al-ʿasharah al-mubashsharūn). He was the son of al-ʿAwwām ibn Khuwaylid, making him the nephew of Khadījah bint Khuwaylid رضي الله عنها (the Prophet's first wife). His mother was Ṣafiyyah bint ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, the Prophet's ﷺ paternal aunt. He married Asmāʾ bint Abī Bakr رضي الله عنها (Abū Bakr's daughter, ʿĀʾishah's sister), and their son is the famous ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Zubayr.

The Prophet ﷺ called him 'ḥawārī', his closest helper and supporter. He said: 'Every prophet has a ḥawārī and al-Zubayr is my ḥawārī.' This is among the highest designations given to any Companion.

At the Battle of Badr (17 Ramaḍān 2 AH), al-Zubayr wore a yellow turban, and Allāh granted him a remarkable honor: all one thousand of the descending angels dressed themselves in the same garment he was wearing, including the yellow turban. This is narrated in the Mustadrak of al-Ḥākim. Dr. Qadhi notes this as a spectacular honor given to al-Zubayr, that the angels of Badr came in his likeness.

Al-Zubayr participated in virtually every major expedition in the early Islamic period. He later became one of the major political figures during the fitnah after the assassination of ʿUthmān, and died at the Battle of the Camel (36 AH/656 CE).