The Poem of Zayd ibnu 'Amr ibnu Nufayl رضي الله عنه

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From the aforementioned poem by Zayd ibnu 'Amr رضي الله عنه, the following verses can be found in some books of sirah (biographies of the Prophet)⁷⁴:

وَأَسْلَمْتُ وَجْهِي لِمَنْ أَسْلَمَتْ ... لَهُ الْأَرْضُ تَحْمِلُ صَخْرًا ثِقَالًا

دَحَاهَا فَلَمَّا رَآهَا اسْتَوَتْ ... عَلَى الْمَاءِ أَرْسَى عَلَيْهَا الْجِبَالَا

وَأَسْلَمْتُ وَجْهِي لِمَنْ أَسْلَمَتْ ... لَهُ الْمُزْنُ تَحْمِلُ عَذْبًا زُلَالًا

إذَا هِيَ سِيقَتْ إلَى بَلْدَةٍ ... أَطَاعَتْ فَصَبَّتْ عَلَيْهَا سِجَالًا

I have submitted my face to the One to Whom

the earth, bearing heavy rocks, has submitted.

He spread it out, and when it became level, He stabilized it

as a whole and anchored the mountains within it.

and I have submitted my face to the One to Whom

the rain-bearing clouds have surrendered.

When they are driven towards a land,

They obey and pour down upon it torrents of water.

In all these verses, Zayd ibnu 'Amr consistently used the word aslama when he said “aslamtu wajhiya/I have submitted my face.” What is particularly interesting about these poetic verses is that they belong to a pre-Islamic poem!

It is, therefore, a poem that originates from before the emergence of the specific message of Islam⁷⁵. However, the general concept of Islam – tawhid – was already present, as it forms the message of all the Prophets عليهم السلام.

Although Zayd ibnu 'Amr knew the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, it was before his mission as a Messenger. He passed away before the first revelation. Nevertheless, he belonged to the so-called hunafa', a group of people who, even before the emergence of Islam, adhered to the pure monotheistic teachings of Abraham.

The hunafa' were, in this sense, already monotheists before the teachings of Muhammad and thus Muslims in the general sense of the word, which is why they rejected idolatry. For this reason, the pure and uncorrupted monotheistic teachings of Abraham are also referred to in Arabic as al-hanifiyyah.

These persons, therefore, knew Islam without having heard even a single verse of the Qur'an. As seen in the example above, they also expressed their beliefs through their poetry. The hunafa' rejected idolatry and were fully aware of its falsehood.

Furthermore, the mentioned poem clearly illustrates the linguistic meaning of the word Islam or aslama, since it is a poem from the period before the emergence of (specific) Islam.

At that time, the word could only have been used in its linguistic sense, making this text a suitable example for clarifying the original linguistic meaning of the term.