The grandson of the Holy Prophet, peace and prayers be upon him, who was born in Africa and who passed away before adolescence, the son of Sayyidatina Ruqayya and Sayyidina ‘Uthman: the noble ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Uthman. May Almighty Allah send his choicest peace and blessings upon them all.
There was a time when this grandson and his parents represented one of the greatest prospects for the Believers in the dawning of Islam when there was no political power. He was the result of a marriage between two families at odds with each other over the matter of the prophetic mission. And yet, there he was; the offspring of an unlikely marriage. As migrants to Abyssinia, his parents sought peaceful civil society in a land governed by a Christian king whose justice was confirmed by the Holy Prophet.
Living well. Sometimes it is the best argument. The best “revenge”. The greatest argument of a believer, sometimes, is simply his or her countenance.
‘Abd is Arabic for “slave”. ‘Abdullah means literally “slave of God”. Although Sayyidina ‘Uthman was 34 years old when the prophetic mission began and already was the father of many children, it is this child—born a half dozen years later—who would provide him his famous name. Abu Abdullah. Father of the Slave of Allah. In a world where slavery was so strong and elitism and royalty were common, this honorable name Abu Abdullah is as much a disruption to that as was the marriage that produced the child.
Live well. (And visit Africa.)
It is said that he was given the kunya of Abu ‘Amr in the Jahiliyah, then in the time of Islam, Ruqayyah gave birth to ‘Abdullah for him, and he took his kunya from him (Abu ‘Abdullah).