Owais al-Qarani (Arabic: أُوَيْس ٱبْن عَامِر ٱبْن جَزْء ٱبْن مَالِك ٱلْقَرَنِيّ, ʾUways ibn ʿĀmir ibn Jazʾ ibn Mālik al-Qaranī), also spelled Uways or Owais, was a Muslim from South Arabia who lived during the lifetime of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.^[1]

Uwais al-Qarni Mosque in Raqqa (now in Syria) is his burial site, as he died during the Battle of Siffin there. It was destroyed by the Islamic State in 2013 and is currently awaiting reconstruction.^[2]

Although he lived during the lifetime of Muhammad, he never physically met him so he is only honorarily counted among the Companions of the Prophet.

Among the Tabi‘un, he is specially known as Khayr at-Tābiʿīn (Arabic: خَيْر ٱلتَّابِعِين, lit. 'the best of the Tabi‘un') and Sayyid at-Tabiʿīn fī Zamānah (Arabic: سَيِّد ٱلتَّابِعِين فِي زَمَانَه, lit. 'leader of the Tabi‘un of his era').

Life

Muslim historians agreed Uwais descended from the Murad tribe sub-branch.^[3] Furthermore, Arabian peninsula local traditions have traced the al-Qarani were a Nisba (onomastics) of Ibb city in Yemen, the place where Uwais was born.^[3]

Uwais's father, Amir, was a strong believer in Islam. He died when Uwais was still young and Uwais was raised by his mother alone; He never physically met Muhammad, even though he lived in the same era. However, he met Muhammad's companion Umar and is therefore seen as from among the Tabi'un.^[4] Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani has recorded the strong sense of filial piety by Uwais preoccupied him to leave his mother to meet Muhammad, thus, he sacrificed the chance to reach the rank of companions of the Prophet in an effort to take care of his elderly mother.

During the caliphate of Umar, according to Usayr ibn Jabir recorded by Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, every time Umar received a batch of soldiers who volunteer from Yemen to be sent for the Muslim conquest of Persia, he always asked if there is Uwais among them, as Umar searching Uwais by relying on a Hadith regarding Uwais will reach him one day, Ibn al-Jawzi recorded that Umar was urged by Muhammad during his life, that someday in the future he should ask Uwais for prayer. In the next year after his meeting with Umar, during the Hajj season, it is recorded that Umar still remembered and asked any pilgrims from Kufa about the condition of Uwais.^[3]

Uwais reside in Kufa around the year 19 AH (640 AD) and participated in the battle of Nahavand against the Sassanid army.^[5] However, as he became famous in Kufa due to a recommendation from Hadith which was told by caliph Umar, Uwais moved to an unspecified location and was lost from the trace of historians.^[3]

Uwais appeared again in history during the caliphate of Ali, when the majority of medieval scholars recorded Uwais met his demise during the battle of Siffin, while some others reported he fell in battle during the Muslim conquest of Azerbaijan.^[6]

Legacy

Uwais al-Qarni is mainly greatly revered for his historical piety, particularly his legendary filial piety, which prompted Muslim communities in later eras to express their veneration in various ways as Muhammad has given the glad tiding about his moral and ethical conduct as Mumin.^[3] Which bestowed the title of Khayr al-Tabi'een or best Tabi'in by Muhammad himself in a series of Hadith narrations recorded by Sahih Muslim and Kitab al-Wafi bi'l-Wafayat of Safadi.^[7]

His humility for not seeking fame and his filial piety prompted Arabian poets to bestow him as "Majhul an fi al Ardh, Ma'rufin fi as-Samaa" which translates as "unknown on earth (among humans), but famously acknowledged on heavens (by Allah and His Angels)".^[3]

The appraisal of him as the best Tabi'un came from an-Nawawi in his book, Al-Minhaj bi Sharh Sahih Muslim, in a part of the commentary of Hadith came from Umar which recorded by Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj which mentioned the prophecy from Muhammad who praised Uwais, despite never having seen him.^[3] While ad-Dhahabi praised Uwais as “The ascetic role model, the leader of the Tabi'un in his time". Al-Hakim al-Nishapuri gave a short commentary in his book, that Uwais was "the monk of Ummah".

Another virtue appraised for Uwais is the weak hadith of ‘Abdullah ibn Abi’l-Jad‘a’ about the virtue of intercession from Uwais alone was better than whole Banu Tamim, which commentary by Hasan al-Basri that the Hadith were particularly come appraisal for Uwais. In architectural legacy, there was the mosque that was named after Uwais in Mosul, Iraq, but it was destroyed in 2014.^[8]

In modern times, Muhammad Hassan Haniff asserted the case of Uwais taking care of his mother alone and not migrating to Medina as a case to refute the extremist ideology of ISIS, pointing out the conduct of Uwais of not immediately migrating to the territory of the caliphate and not immediately engage in Jihad during the first years of Islam as he prioritize his elderly mother, which agreed by Muhammad and the companions, as refutation that ISIS ideology was flawed according to Islamic teaching.^[9]

Sufi orders

The Uwaisi form of Islamic mysticism was named after Uwais, as it refers to the transmission of spiritual knowledge between two individuals without the need for physical interaction between them all.^[10][11][12] For example, the contemporary "Silsila Owaisi" order led by Shaykh Banaras Owaisi is active in the United Kingdom.^[13]

Meanwhile, there is another Sufi order named Muhamadia Uwaisia Order is blessed to Khawaja Shaykh Muhammad Owais Naqibi Qadri Suharwardi AbuAlAlai Naqshbandi, Chishti Sabri Jahangiri. Shaykh Muhammad Owais was granted permission for Uwaisia silsila directly from Muhammad in his court in Madinah in 1st Shaban 1434 AH (2013 CE) and Muhammad blessed this silsila with the name "Mohammadia Uwaisia" (or "Muhammadia Uwaisia" or "Muhammadiya Uwaisia" or "Muhammdiya Owaisia"; Arabic: محمدئة أُوَيْسئة‎).^[14] Last shaykh of silsla Uwaisa was Nūr ad-Dīn 'Abd ar-Rahmān Jāmī (Persian: نورالدین عبدالرحمن جامی‎) (1414-1492 CE)