Khabbab ibn al-Aratt

Khabbab was a skilled blacksmith who had been taken as a slave. He was among the first six people to accept Islam. His owner, Umm Anmar, tortured him mercilessly when she discovered his faith — she would heat iron rods and press them against his back and head. The Quraysh would lay him on burning coals and place rocks on his chest so he could not move. The flesh of his back was burned away. Years later in Kufa, he showed the scars to his students — his entire back was scarred and deformed from the burns. He came to the Prophet once while the Prophet was resting in the shade of the Ka'bah, using his cloak as a pillow, and said: 'Will you not pray to Allah for us? Will you not ask Allah to help us?' The Prophet sat up, his face reddened, and said: 'Among those who came before you, a man would be placed in a pit and sawed in half from head to foot, and that would not turn him from his religion. By Allah, this matter will be completed until a rider travels from San'a to Hadramaut fearing no one but Allah and the wolf for his sheep — but you are being hasty.' Khabbab lived to see the fulfilment of this prophecy — Islam spread across Arabia and beyond in his lifetime. On his deathbed, he wept and said he feared that his reward had already been given in this world, for he had become wealthy after years of poverty.