Waraqa ibn Nawfal, Khadija's Christian cousin
c. c. 550 – c. 610
Place: mecca
21.422, 39.826 · On the map
TRADITIONAL (Bukhari 3; Ibn Ishaq). The claim that he led a Meccan Ebionite or Nazarene church is a fringe hypothesis.
In the hadith of the first revelation, Khadija takes the shaken Muhammad to her elderly cousin Waraqa, who had become a Christian, 'wrote the Gospel in Hebrew' (or Arabic, in other versions) and confirms that the same divine messenger who came to Moses has come to Muhammad. Waraqa dies soon afterwards.
People named here
- Waraqa ibn Nawfal
- Khadija
- Muhammad
Where scholars disagree
For
- Abu Musa al-Hariri (pen name J. Azzi) — Qass wa-nabi (1979/1991): Waraqa as an Ebionite priest who prepared Muhammad
Against
- Academic reviewers call Azzi's thesis selective and without scholarly support (see DergiPark survey citing the critical literature)
Links
Text and wording
In
The hanifs: Abraham's 'pure monotheism'
Ibn Ishaq lists Waraqa among four hanifs who became Christians or seekers.
includes
traditional
Report and reading
Out
First revelation on Mount Hira
Waraqa confirms Muhammad's experience as the 'namus' of Moses.
interpreted
traditionalOut
Did Jewish-Christian groups survive to shape the Qur'an?
The fringe thesis that Waraqa was an Ebionite priest (Azzi).
claimed_by
scholarly hypothesis
Sources
- Sahih al-Bukhari 3 (Beginning of Revelation) — insider tradition, compiled 9th c.
Sunnah.com. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah, trans. A. Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad (OUP 1955) — insider tradition, compiled c. 750, recension of Ibn Hisham d. 833
Internet Archive (lending record). Accessed 2026-11-11.
- 'Kur'an'da Hıristiyanlar ve Hıristiyanlık' (survey; discusses and critiques J. Azzi / Abu Musa al-Hariri, Qass wa-nabi)
Çukurova Univ. İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi (DergiPark). Accessed 2026-11-11.