Rady Allahu ‘anh was an early believer. He was 34 at the time. Married with numerous children, and a flourishing international business. From a powerful family, and personally well liked. His conversion made no worldly sense, if you think about it: his two wives separated from him in protest; he was threatened by family elders, imprisoned by one; and he was a political problem for the opponents of the new faith because to brand the faith as a poor-and-destitute-only movement didn’t work because he was there. A billionaire believer just going about his faith and asserting that torturing him would not change his decision to follow the Holy Prophet, peace and prayers be upon him.
Rady Allahu ‘anh was not the first man to accept Islam; nor was he someone in the household at the time. He was brought over by the venerable Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, may Almighty Allah be forever pleased with him, to see and talk with the Prophet; however, before that, out in the desert the venerable ‘Uthman had heard a voice tell him to go to Makkah because Ahmad had come. So was he a seeker of the Prophet, curious about the message, or was there something out there that sought him out and urged him to connect with this man Ahmad (the name of the Prophet in the heavens)?
There is a Sufi saying that states it is better to be used for wisdom than to be wise. It is better to be sought out by the angelic realm than to seek it. And Almighty Allah knows best.
Ibn Ishaq said: He was the first to accept Islam after Abu Bakr, ‘Ali and Zaid ibn Harithah.