Zubair ibn al-Awwam

Az-Zubair ibn al-Awwam was the son of the Prophet's aunt Safiyya bint Abdul-Muttalib. He accepted Islam at the age of fifteen, among the first eight men. When a rumor spread in Mecca that the Prophet ﷺ had been killed, Zubair drew his sword and ran through the streets. The Prophet ﷺ met him and asked: what will you do with this? Zubair said: I will strike whoever killed you. The Prophet ﷺ prayed for him and for his sword.

He emigrated to Abyssinia and then to Madinah. He fought at Badr, Uhud, Khandaq, and Khaybar. At Khaybar he was cut across the face so badly that his eye hung by a thread; he pushed it back into its socket and rejoined the fighting. He was among the ten promised Paradise while still alive, according to the hadith of Sa'id ibn Zayd.

The Prophet ﷺ called him hawariyy, the disciple, a term the Quran uses for the disciples of Isa. Every prophet has a hawariyy, said the Prophet ﷺ, and mine is Zubair. He married Asma bint Abi Bakr, the sister of Aisha, and their children became the great early Muslim family of Madinah.

He was killed at the Battle of the Camel in 36 AH under difficult circumstances. He withdrew from the battle after Ali reminded him of a hadith he had forgotten and was pursued and killed while praying alone in the Wadi as-Siba.