Ubayd Allah ibn Jahsh ibn Ri'ab (Arabic: عُبَيْد اللَّه ٱبْن جَحْش ٱبْن رِئَاب, romanized: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Jaḥsh ibn Riʾāb; c. 588–627) was a contemporary of the Islamic prophet Muhammad who apostated from Islam by converting to Christianity following his migration to Abyssinia in around 615 CE. He is one of the four hanifs (a type of monotheists) mentioned by Ibn Ishaq, te others being Waraka ibn Nawfal, Uthman ibn Huwairith and Zayd ibn Amr.^[1]

Biography

He was the son of Jahsh ibn Riyab^[2] and Umayma bint Abd al-Muttalib,^[3] hence a brother of Abd Allah ibn Jahsh, Zaynab bint Jahsh, Abu Ahmad ibn Jahsh, Habiba bint Jahsh and Hammanah bint Jahsh, a first cousin of Islamic prophet Muhammad and Ali, and a nephew of Hamza ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib. He married Ramla bint Abi Sufyan (who was also known as Umm Habiba), and they had one daughter, Habibah bint Ubayd Allah.^[4]

He and his wife became Muslims and, in order to escape from the Meccan persecution, they emigrated to Abyssinia.^[5] At Axum, part of the Aksumite Empire, the Christian king Aṣḥama ibn Abjar (also known as Najashi) gave sanctuary to the Muslims. There Ubayd Allah eventually converted to Christianity and testified his new faith to the other Muslim refugees. Ibn Ishaq relates:

'Ubaydullah went on searching until Islam came; then he migrated with the Muslims to Abyssinia taking with him his wife who was a Muslim, Umm Habiba bint Abu Sufyan. When he arrived there he adopted Christianity, parted from Islam, and died a Christian in Abyssinia. Muhammad bin Jafar al-Zubayr told me that when he had become a Christian 'Ubaydullah as he passed the prophet's companions who were there used to say: 'We see clearly, but your eyes are only half open', i.e. 'We see, but you are only trying to see and cannot see yet.'