Abu Hurairah was one of the most famous hadith narrator. He was also prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) close friend, and close neighbour, he had a house near Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Not only famous for his hadith narration, he was also well known as the father of cats. He loved cats so much and he liked to make meals and protect the cats from wild animals. Thus, to know more information about him, let’s see his biography as a hadith narrator in brief.
Abu Hurairah’s Name
His birth name was Abdurrahman ibn Shakhr ad Dausi. In jahiliyyah period, he called by the name Abdu Syamsi ibn Shakhr ad Dausi. His name, Abdurrahman, was given by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) after he converted to Islam. He was 30 years old younger than Rasulullah at that time.
So, he was one of the close friend of Rasulullah, Muhammad SAW. With his strong memory, he tried his best to write hadith every day and learn how to memorize Qur’an, because he knew the benefits of memorizing Qur’an.
Not only because of his strong memory and willing, but also because of his close house to Rasulullah (PBUH). He could hear many hadith from Rasulullah when he lead rawatib pray or at another moments.
Abu Hurairah means ‘Father of Cats’. He got Abu Hurairah’s name because of his love for cats. He had a cat which loved him very much. He was always carried this cat to everywhere.
His cat was like a shadow that follow him every time. His cat was always bathed, cleaned and given a good food by him.
In addition, he also had several pet cats in his house. His love for cats was from Rasulullah (PBUH) inspiration. Rasulullah had a cat too, Muezza is the name of Rasulullah’s cats.
Abu Hurairah’s Place of Birth
Abu Hurairah was born in the Ad Daus, region of Yemen. This place is area that initially always opposed the prophetic treatise of Rasulullah. One time, Tufayl bin Amru Ad Dausi came, he met Rasulullah SAW and converted to Islam before Rasulullah PBUH migrated to Medina.
Tufayl bin Amru Ad Dausi preached Islam to Ad Daus people, but there is no one in Ad Daus city who accepted Islam except Abu Hurairah. Abu Hurairah had chosen to believe in Allah, know the purposes of believing in Allah for muslims.
In his twenty six age, Abu Hurairah determination to migrate from Ad Daus to the Rasulullah SAW place had unanimous. With little provisions, he poised until he arrived in Medina. He was very glad because he met with Rasulullah SAW.
Abu Hurairah’s Poverty Life
Abu Hurairah was also known as a very poor friend. His decision to migrate from Yemen to Medina made him life in a poor condition. It made him lose a lot of his possessions in Yemen.
However, Muslims at that time had provided a place for guests who didn’t have wealth and family. They will be placed in the mosque, while studying Islam with Rasulullah PBUH.
Abu Hurairah accustomed to be hungry, he used to bind his stomach with stone. He even said that once he felt hungry until he wanted to faint, after that he got food.
He once acted like someone who has cramp, and then some people came to him and they do ruqya (Islamic exorcism) for him. Then, he will immediately raised his head and then he said, “This is not like what you see, but I’m like this just because I’m hungry”.
Abu Hurairah As a Hadith Narrator
He was a hadith narrator. Hadith narrator usually known as rawi in Arab. The hadith expert has agreed that Abu Hurairah was the best friend who had narrated hadith so much. He was a great rawi.
Abu Muhammad Ibn Hazm said that in Musnad Baqi bin Makhlad there were more than 5300 hadiths narrated by Abu Hurairah. Not only Rasulullah, he also also narrated hadith from Abu Bakr, Umar, Aisha, Ubay bin Ka’ab, Usamah bin Zaid and many more.
There are about 800 experts from among friends and tabi’in who narrated the hadith from Abu Hurairah. Abu Hurairah was someone who was the most memorized in narrating of thousands hadiths.
So, as a Muslim that believe in Allah, we should also respect him. Because Abu Hurairah was struggling a lot to make sure that we will get as many as possible information from Muhammad (PBUH). Of course, we should learn the sincerity life of him to make our faith in Islam stronger.
Abu Hurairah was a great human. He had a very amazing life with strong believe of the reasons why Al-Qur’an always has all life answer. Although he found many problem in his life, he never give up and always persist. It said that Abu Hurairah died in 57 Hijriyah.