Abdullah ibn Umm Maktum

Abdullah ibn Umm Maktum was of Quraysh, from Banu 'Amir ibn Lu'ay, and was blind. He accepted Islam in Makkah and was known for coming to be taught directly by the Prophet ﷺ.

A meeting between the two of them in Makkah — in which Ibn Umm Maktum came asking to be taught while the Prophet ﷺ was occupied with a group of Quraysh leaders — is connected by classical exegesis to the opening of Surah Abasa. The record states that connection without quoting or numbering the verses, and without describing what anyone involved was thinking or feeling; the meeting itself is set out in the moment below.

In Madinah, Ibn Umm Maktum became the second of the two men who called the adhan, alongside Bilal. Bilal's call came while it was still night, so that people could eat and drink before the fast began; Ibn Umm Maktum's call meant that true dawn had come.

The Prophet ﷺ also left him in charge of Madinah more than once while he himself was away from the city.

The sources say little about the rest of his life. Some later reports connect him to further service in the years after the Prophet ﷺ died, but they are not consistent enough to state any detail here.