Talha ibn Ubayd Allah

Talha ibn Ubayd Allah was a Meccan merchant of the Banu Taym, a clan of the Quraysh tribe, and an early Companion (sahabi, a contemporary follower) of the Prophet Muhammad. Tradition holds he was among the first to accept Islam, drawn in through his kinsman Abu Bakr; sira (biographical) sources report that the two were once bound together by Meccan opponents during the early persecutions, earning them the nickname "the two tied together." His birth year is a traditional estimate (c. 594 CE), and reports of his age at death vary (given as 60, 62, or 64), so his exact age is uncertain.

He is remembered above all for the Battle of Uhud (3 AH / 625 CE), where reports say he shielded the Prophet's face from an arrow with his own hand, losing two fingers, and was severely wounded. In Sunni tradition he is counted among al-ashara al-mubashshara, "the ten to whom Paradise was promised," and was nicknamed "the Generous" for his almsgiving from a large trading fortune. Under the early caliphs he was a member of the consultative council (shura), including the six-man council Umar appointed to choose his successor.

After the killing of the third caliph, Uthman, Talha and al-Zubayr disputed the authority of Ali ibn Abi Talib and, alongside Aisha, fought Ali's forces at the Battle of the Camel near Basra in 36 AH / 656 CE, where Talha was killed. How he died is disputed in the sources: one account attributes the fatal wound to an arrow from Marwan ibn al-Hakam, a member of his own coalition, while other accounts differ; the sources do not settle on a single killer. Sunni tradition honors him as a Companion; in the Shia view he is judged critically as one who broke his pledge to Ali.