The House of Arqam
Summary
The house of Arqam was a gathering place for the Muslims during the period of Islam’s history in Makkah. Waqidi and after him, Ibn Sad have recorded the entry of the Holy Prophet to the house of Arqam as a historical source. Some researchers believe that this kind of emphasis on the issue of Arqam’s house held political orientation in order to take importance from the Valley of Abi Talib.
Arqam ibn Abd al-Manaf
Arqam ibn Abd al-Manaf was a companion of the Holy Prophet. According to narrations from Arqam’s children and descendants, he was the seventh person to convert to Islam [1] but in Ibn Ishaq’s narration, he has been recorded as the eighth person in which everyone converted after Abu Bakr, and he converted after Abu Salamah, Abu Ubaydah Jarrah and Uthman ibn Mazun. [2] He participated in the battles of Badr, Uhud and other battles. [1], [3] Arqam was one of the narrators of the Holy Prophet’s narrations. [4], [5], [6]
Arqam’s house
Arqam’s fame is due to the house he owned in Makkah at the foot of Mount Safa was the first gathering place for Muslims and the Holy Prophet would also invite people to Islam there [7] and they say that many people converted to Islam in this house. [8], [9] The reason the Holy Prophet chose this place was due to Arqam’s eagerness for Islam and also, it was relatively out of view from the polytheists. [10] Arqam’s house belonged to his descendants until the time of Mansur Abbasi but after the suppression of Muhammad Nafs al-Zakiyyah’s uprising in 145 A.H., Mansur imprisoned Abdullah ibn Uthman ibn Arqam who was considered as one of Nafs al-Zakiyyah’s companions, despite not joining the uprising, and eventually, Mansur bought this house from him and his brothers. [11]
Entering Arqam’s house as a historical subject
The first historian to record entry to Arqam’s house as a historical subject was Waqidi and after him, his student Ibn Sad also followed this method, but before these two, such an approach was unheard of. He used the words ‘Islam before the house of Arqam’ and ‘after the house of Arqam’ many times. [12] When the rest of the historians like Tabari and Ibn Kathir would narrate from Waqidi and Ibn Sad, they would use the same words. [10]
Criticism of Arqam’s house
Sayyid Jafar Murtada Amili (contemporary historian and Islamic scholar) has not looked at Ibn Sad’s narrations in a positive light. He believes that the hand of politics has placed the house of Arqam to take importance from the Valley of Abi Talib, otherwise, it is possible that the Holy Prophet hadn’t visited the house of Arqam more than one or two times. He writes,
“In opposition, I do not see such importance for the house of Arqam as Ibn Ishaq has not referred to it and Baladhuri has passed by it and left it on the side. It was only Waqidi who considered it important for the first time and has considered it a prominent historical event. It is possible that due to these few times the Muslims visited this house, the hand of politics has made it great and changed it. It has named it the house of Islam so that it can be placed against the Valley of Abu Talib and this isn’t far from the political logic that was aforementioned.” [13]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Ṭabaqāt, vol. 2, p. 242
- ↑ ‘al-Sīraḧ ‘al-Nabawiyyaḧ, vol. 1, p. 260-70
- ↑ Tārīkh Ṭabarī, p. 519
- ↑ Musnad ‘Aḥmad ‘ibn Ḥanbal, vol. 3, p. 417
- ↑ ‘al-Jarḥ wa ‘al-Ta`dīl, vol. 1, p. 309
- ↑ ‘al-Mu`jam ‘al-Kabīr, vol. 1, p. 285
- ↑ Ṭabaqāt, vol. 3, p. 242
- ↑ Jamharaḧ ‘Ansāb ‘al-`Arab, p. 143
- ↑ ‘al-‘Istī`āb, vol. 1, p. 133
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Taken from the book Māhe Tārīkh wa Joghrāfiyā, no. 61 and 62, p. 141
- ↑ Ṭabaqāt, vol. 3, p. 243, 244
- ↑ Ṭabaqāt, vol. 3, p. 5, 85, 92, 180
- ↑ ‘al-Ṣaḥīḥ min Sīraḧ ‘al-Nabī ‘al-‘A`ẓam, vol. 2, p. 345