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{{Short description|Cousin of Muhammad}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Waraqah ibn Nawfal
| image =
| death_date = 610 CE
| father = Nawfal ibn Asad
| mother = Hind bint Abi Kathir
| relations = [[Khadijah bint Khuwaylid]] (cousin)
| family = [[Asad ibn Abd-ul-Uzza|Banu Asad]] ([[Quraysh]])}}

'''Waraqah ibn [[Nawfal (name)|Nawfal]] ibn [[Asad ibn Abd-al-Uzza|Asad]] ibn [[Abd al-Uzza ibn Qusai|Abd-al-Uzza]] ibn [[Qusai ibn Kilab|Qusayy]] [[Quraysh tribe|Al-Qurashi]]''' ([[Arabic language|Arabic]] {{lang|ar|ورقه بن نوفل بن أسد بن عبد العزّى بن قصي القرشي}}) was an Arabian ascetic who was the paternal first cousin of [[Khadijah bint Khuwaylid]], the first wife of [[Muhammad]]. He was considered to be a ''[[hanif]]'', who practised the pure form of [[monotheism]] in [[pre-Islamic Arabia]]. Waraqah presumably died in 610 [[Common Era|CE]], shortly after Muhammad is said to have received his first revelation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://hadithcollection.com/sahihbukhari/sahih-bukhari-book-01-revelation/sahih-bukhari-volume-001-book-001-hadith-number-003.html|title=Sahih Bukhari|quote='Anyone (man) who came with something similar to what you have brought was treated with hostility; and if I should remain alive till the day when you will be turned out then I would support you strongly.' But after a few days Waraqah died[...]}}</ref>

Waraqah and Khadija were also cousins of Muhammad: their paternal grandfather [[Asad ibn Abd-al-Uzza]] was Muhammad's matrilineal great-great-grandfather.<ref>Muhammad ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' vol. 1. Translated by Haq, S. M. ''Ibn Sa'd's Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir'', p. 54. Delhi: Kitab Bhavan.</ref> By another reckoning, Waraqah was Muhammad's third cousin: Asad ibn Abd-al-Uzza was a grandson of Muhammad's patrilineal great-great-great-grandfather [[Qusai ibn Kilab]]. Waraqah was the son of a man called Nawfal and his consort—Hind, daughter of Abī Kat̲h̲īr. Waraqah was proposed to marry Khadija, but the marriage never took place.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Robinson|first1=C. F.|title=Encyclopedia of Islam|date=2012|isbn=9789004161214|edition=Second|url=http://fulla.augustana.edu:2177/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/waraka-b-nawfal-SIM_7863?s.num=0&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.encyclopaedia-of-islam-2&s.q=Waraka}}</ref>

A recent theory that he was an [[Ebionite]] is not considered mainstream.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lIpYAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA113 | title=A Guide to the Phantom Dark Age | isbn=9781628940411 | last1=Scott | first1=Emmet | date=March 2014 }}</ref>

Waraqah is revered in Islamic tradition for being one of the first ''[[hanif]]s'' to believe in the prophecy of Muhammad.<ref>''Encyclopedia of Islam'', Online ed., "Waraqah bin. Nawfal".</ref>

== Hadith Traditions ==
{{Muhammad}}

===Witness to Muhammad ===
When told of Muhammad's first revelation (which is understood to be Sura 96:1-5), Waraqah acknowledged his call to prophecy as authentic. Tradition recounts [[Waraqah]] saying: "There has come to him the greatest Law that came to [[Moses]]; surely he is the prophet of this people".<ref>Ibn Ishaq/Guillaume p. 107.</ref>

Two different narrations from [[Aisha]] give these details.

{{blockquote|Aisha also said: "The Prophet returned to Khadija while his heart was beating rapidly. She took him to Waraqah bin Naufal who was a Christian convert and used to read the Gospel in Arabic. Waraqah asked (the Prophet), 'What do you see?' When he told him, Waraqah said, 'That is the same [[angel]] whom Allah sent to the Prophet Moses. Should I live till you receive the Divine Message, I will support you strongly.'"<ref>Bukhari 4:55:605.</ref>}}

{{blockquote|Khadija then accompanied him to her cousin Waraqah bin Naufil bin Asad bin 'Abdul 'Uzza, who, during the Pre-Islamic Period became a Christian and used to write the ''writing with Hebrew letters''. He would ''write from the Gospel in Hebrew'' as much as God wished him to write. He was an old man and had lost his eyesight. Khadija said to Waraqah, "Listen to the story of your nephew, O my cousin!" Waraqah asked, "O my nephew! What have you seen?" God's Apostle described whatever he had seen. Waraqah said, "This was the same one who keeps the secrets whom Allah had sent to Moses ([[Gabriel|Angel Gabriel]]). I wish I were young and could live up to the time when your people would turn you out." God's Apostle asked, "Will they drive me out?" Waraqah replied in the affirmative and said, "Anyone (man) who came with something similar to what you have brought was treated with hostility; and if I should remain alive till the day when you will be turned out then I would support you strongly." But after a few days Waraqah died and the Divine Inspiration was also paused for a while.<ref>Bukhari 1:1:3. See also Bukhari 4:55:605; Bukhari 9:87:111; Muslim 1:301.</ref>}}

== Poems ==
Some poems have been reported to be composed by Waraqah for his companion [[Zayd ibn Amr|Zayd ibn Amr bin Nufayl.]]{{blockquote|''You were altogether on the right path, Ibn Amr;''

''You have escaped Hell's burning oven''

''by serving the one and only God''

''and abandoning vain idols ...''

''for the mercy of God reaches men''

''though they be seventy valleys deep below the earth.''<ref>Muhammad ibn Ishaq. ''Sirat Rasul Allah''. Translated by Guillaume, A. (1955). ''The Life of Muhammad''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.</ref><br />}}

===Persecution of Bilal===
Once in the heat of the day Waraqah passed an open valley, where [[Umayyah ibn Khalaf]] was forcing his slave [[Bilal ibn Rabah]] to lie with a large rock on his chest until he denied his faith and worshipped [[Al-Lat]] and [[Al-‘Uzzá]]. Bilal kept insisting, "One, one!" i.e., there was only one God. Waraqah joined, "One, one, by God, Bilal!" He then protested against the abuse, telling Umayyah and his clan: "I swear by God that if you kill him in this way, I will make his tomb a shrine." Umayyah took no notice.<ref>Ibn Ishaq/Guillaume pp. 143-144.</ref>

[[Ibn Kathir]] doubts this tradition because the persecution of the Muslims only began several years after Waraqah's death.<ref>Ismail ibn Umar ibn Kathir. ''Al-Sira al-Nabawiyya''. Translated by Le Gassick, T. (1998). ''The Life of the Prophet Muhammad'', vol. 1 p. 357. Reading, U.K.: Garnet Publishing.</ref> However, [[Aloys Sprenger|Sprenger]] points out that Bilal, being ancestrally Abyssinian, might have been Christian before he was a Muslim, though Bilal was taken from his parents at an early age. It is possible that Umayyah was persecuting him for this reason before 610. In that case, the story that Waraqah tried to help his co-coreligionist migbt be true.<ref>Sprenger, A. (1851). ''The Life of Mohammad, from Original Sources'', pp. 161-162. Allahabad: The Presbyterian Mission Press.</ref> On the other hand, there are no sources that identify Bilal as a [[Christians|Christian]], on the contrary, he, before becoming a [[Muslim]] renounced his idol worship, hinting that Bilal was a polytheist before he converted early on to Islam.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Saad|first=Ibn|title=At Tabaqat Al Kubra|pages=VIII/ pp. 256}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Janeh, Sabarr. Learning from the Life of Prophet Muhammad: Peace and Blessing of God Be upon Him, 2010. pp. 235-238|isbn=1466924160|pages=23}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Sodiq, Yushau. Insider's Guide to Islam. Bloomington, Indiana: Trafford, 2011. Print.}}</ref> Furthermore, Bilal was one of the first converts to Islam.

===Legacy===
Muhammad said of Waraqah: "''Do not slander Waraqah ibn Nawfal, for I have seen that he will have one or two gardens in Paradise''."<ref>Saheeh al-Jaami as-Sagger, 6/1534, no. 7197</ref>

Khadija told Muhammad that Waraqah "believed in you, but he died before your advent."

Muhammad added: "I saw him in a dream, and upon him were white garments. If he were among the inhabitants of the Fire then he would have been wearing other than that."<ref>Tirmidhi 4:8:2288.</ref>

==References==
{{Portal|Islam}}
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
*[http://hajj.al-islam.com/display.asp?lang=eng&sub=7&fname=kasas/6 A short description of the first revelation and immediate events]
*[http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Quran/Sources/BBwaraqa.html Islamic Awareness - Did Waraqah ibn Nawfal teach the Prophet?]

{{Muhammad footer}}
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[[Category:6th-century Arab people]]
[[Category:Arab Christians]]
[[Category:Converts to Christianity]]
[[Category:Christianity and Islam]]
[[Category:Khadija bint Khuwaylid]]
[[Category:Quraysh]]
[[Category:Family of Muhammad]]
[[Category:610 deaths]]

Waraqah ibn Nawfal - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article