Miqdad ibn Aswad

Al-Miqdad ibn Amr al-Bahrani (), better known as al-Miqdad ibn al-Aswad al-Kindi () or simply Miqdad, was one of the companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. His kunya was Abu Ma'bad (). Miqdad was born in Eastern Arabia. He became fugitive in his hometown and ran to Mecca, where he served Aswad al-Kindi. Miqdad managed to gain favor of his master, who in turn adopted him as his son.

Miqdad later embraced Islam and became one of the early converts of the new religion founded by Muhammad, before he migrated to Medina due to persecution by the Meccan polytheists. Miqdad stopped using 'Ibn Aswad' as his name and used his real bloodline nisba from his father, 'Ibn Amr', after Qur'anic verse was revealed to forbid one to abolish his own bloodline. In Medina, Miqdad was known in history as the first Muslim horsemen, Miqdad participated in all military operations under Muhammad.

After the death of Muhammad, Miqdad continued to serve Islam under the Rashidun, where he was involved heavily in the Muslim conquest of the Levant and later Muslim conquest of Egypt. Miqdad's funeral prayer was led by the caliph.

Miqdad was recorded as dark and hairy, with a dyed beard, wide eyes and a hooked nose.He was known as an excellent archer. Miqdad was known to have had a very large stomach, to the point that once he sat nearby a huge golden chest, and people remarked that the build of Miqdad was larger than the goldensmith chest. Provided by Wikipedia