Biography of Hamzah ibn Abd al-Muttalib

term, and he it is of whom the Messenger of Allah, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, said: "O Umm Haritha, your son has reached the highest Firdaws."

And Yazid ibn al-Harith ibn Qays al-Khazraji, whose mother is Fusham, and it is said of him: he is Fusham.

And Rafi' ibn al-Mu'alla al-Zuraqi, Sa'd ibn Khaythama al-Awsi, and Mubashshir ibn Abd al-Mundhir, brother of Abu Lubaba.

And Aqil ibn al-Bukayr ibn Abd Yalayl al-Kinani al-Laythi, one of the four Badri brothers.

Their total: fourteen martyrs.

And there were killed, of the polytheists:

Utba ibn Rabi'a ibn Abd Shams ibn Abd Manaf, and his brother Shayba: they had one hundred forty-four years.

And Abu Jahl, Amr ibn Hisham ibn al-Mughira al-Makhzumi, and Umayya ibn Khalaf al-Jumahi, and his son Ali.

And Uqba ibn Abi Mu'ayt: he was slaughtered unwillingly.

And Abu al-Bakhtari, al-As ibn Hisham al-Asadi: al-As is the brother of Abu Jahl; and Hanzala ibn Abi Sufyan, brother of Mu'awiya; and Ubayd and al-As, the two sons of Abi Uhayha.

And al-Harith ibn Amir al-Nawfali, and Tu'ayma, the paternal uncle of Jubayr ibn Mut'im.

And Harith ibn Zam'a ibn al-Aswad, and his father, and his uncle Aqil.

And Nawfal ibn Khuwaylid al-Asadi, brother of Khadija.

And al-Nadr ibn al-Harith: he was killed unwillingly.

And Umayr ibn Uthman, the paternal uncle of Talha ibn Ubayd Allah.

And Mas'ud al-Makhzumi, brother of Umm Salama.

And Abu Qays, brother of Khalid ibn al-Walid; and Qays ibn al-Adi ibn al-Mughira al-Makhzumi.

And Nubayh and Munabbih, the two sons of al-Hajjaj ibn Amir al-Sahmi; and the two sons of Munabbih: Haritha and al-As.

No. 15: Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim ibn Abd Manaf al-Qurashi, ibn Qusayy ibn Kilab [...]

The imam, the champion, the fierce lion, the lion of Allah, Abu Umara and Abu Ya'la, al-Qurashi, al-Hashimi, Meccan then Medinan, the Badri, the martyr.

Paternal uncle of the Messenger of Allah, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, and his brother by nursing.

The Islam of Hamzah ibn Abd al-Muttalib

Ibn Ishaq said: when Hamza embraced Islam, Quraysh knew that the Messenger of Allah, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, had become protected, and that Hamza would protect him: they withheld from some of what they were inflicting on him.

Abu Ishaq said: from Haritha ibn Mudarrib, from Ali:

The Messenger of Allah, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, said to me: "Call Hamza."

I said: "Who is the rider of the red camel?"

Hamza said: "It is Utba ibn Rabi'a." Hamza then faced Utba and killed him.

And Usama ibn Zayd narrated, from Nafi', from Ibn Umar, who said:

The Messenger of Allah, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, heard the women of the Ansar weeping over their dead; he said: "But Hamza has no weeper!"

We came and wept over Hamza in his presence, until he said: "Send them away: let them weep for no dead man after this day."

And in the Mustadrak of al-Hakim:

From Jabir, raised to the Prophet: "The master of the martyrs: Hamza, and a man who stood before a wronging imam: he enjoined him and forbade him, and he killed him."

I say: its isnad is weak.

Al-Daghouri: Ahmad ibn Sayyar narrated to us; Rafi' ibn Ashras narrated; Khulayd al-Saffar narrated; from Ibrahim al-Sa'igh, from Ata, from Jabir:

From the Prophet, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, who said: "The master of the martyrs is Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib."

This is rare.

Usama ibn Zayd: from Nafi', from Ibn Umar, who said:

The Messenger of Allah, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, returned on the day of Uhud and heard the women of the Banu Abd al-Ashhal weeping over their dead.

He said: "But Hamza has no weeper!"

We brought the women of the Ansar, and they wept over Hamza in his presence; he dozed off and awoke while they wept.

He said: "Woe to them! Here they still are at this hour: send them away, let them return, and let them weep for no dead man after this day."

The death of Hamzah ibn Abd al-Muttalib: Wahshi's account

Ibn Ishaq: Abd Allah ibn al-Fadl ibn al-Abbas ibn Rabi'a narrated to me, from Sulayman ibn Yasar, from Ja'far ibn Amr ibn Umayya al-Damri, who said:

I went out with Ubayd Allah ibn Adi ibn al-Khiyar, in the time of Mu'awiya, as raiders; we passed by Homs, where Wahshi was.

Ibn Adi said: "Will you allow that we ask Wahshi how he killed Hamza?"

We went out seeking him and asked after him; we were told: "You will find him in the vestibule of his house, upon a mat; he is a man whom wine has overcome; if you find him sober you will find an Arab man."

We came to him: there was a very old black man, like waterskins, upon a mat, shouting; we greeted him.

He raised his head toward Ubayd Allah ibn Adi and said: "A son of Adi? By Allah, you are the son of al-Khiyar."

He said: "Yes."

He said: "By Allah, I have not seen you since I handed you your mother, the Sa'diyya who nursed you, at Dhu Tuwa, while she was on her mount: your two feet flashed before me."

We said: "We have come that you may tell us how you killed Hamza."

He said: "I shall tell you what I told the Messenger of Allah, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him:

I was the slave of Jubayr ibn Mut'im; his uncle Tu'ayma ibn Adi was killed on the day of Badr.

He said to me: if you kill Hamza, you are free.

I was a man with a javelin I would throw, and I rarely missed with it; so I went out with the people; when they met I took my javelin and went out looking for Hamza, until I saw him in the midst of the people like the flayed camel: he was felling the people with his sword with a sweep that spared nothing; by Allah, I was preparing for him when Siba' ibn Abd al-Uzza al-Khuza'i advanced before me toward him.

When Hamza saw him he said: "Come to me, O son of the cleaver of backs!"

Then Hamza struck him: by Allah, as if he had not missed his head; I never saw anything fall faster than his head.

I swung my javelin; when it pleased me I cast it upon him: it lodged in his haunch until it came out between his two feet; he fell and sought to rise, and was overpowered; I left him with it; when he died I went to him, took my javelin, then returned to the camp and stayed there: I had no other business.

When the Messenger of Allah, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, conquered Mecca, I fled to Ta'if; when the delegation of Ta'if went out to embrace Islam, the earth, despite its breadth, became narrow for me; I said: to join Syria, or the Yemen, or some other land; and by Allah, I was in the midst of that worry when a man said:

"By Allah, Muhammad kills no one who has entered his religion." I went out until I came to Medina, to the Messenger of Allah, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him; he said: "Wahshi?"

I said: "Yes."

He said: "Sit, and tell me how you killed Hamza."

I told him as I tell you.

He said: "Woe to you: veil your face from me, and never show me your face."

I would slip away from the Messenger of Allah, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, wherever he was, until he was taken.

When the Muslims went out to Musaylima, I went out with them with the javelin with which I had killed Hamza; when the people met, I looked at Musaylima, the sword in his hand: by Allah, I did not know him; and there was a man of the Ansar aiming at him from another side: we both were preparing for him.

When he came within my reach I cast my javelin upon him: it lodged in him; and the Ansari pressed upon him and struck him with the sword: your Lord knows best which of us killed him.

If it was I who killed him, I killed the best of the people after the Messenger of Allah, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, and killed the worst of the people.

And in it: from Sulayman ibn Yasar, from Abd Allah ibn Umar, who said:

I heard a man say: "The black slave killed him," meaning Musaylima.

Usama ibn Zayd: from al-Zuhri, from Anas, who said:

On the day of Uhud, the Messenger of Allah, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, stood over Hamza, who had been mutilated and outraged.

He said: "Were it not that Safiyya would grieve over it herself, I would leave him until Allah raised him from the bellies of the beasts and the birds."

He was shrouded in a burnous: if his head was covered his feet appeared, and if his feet were covered his head appeared; and he prayed over none of the martyrs.

And he said: "I am your witness."

And he would place three in one grave, and the two, and ask: which of the two knows more Qur'an? And he would set him in front in the niche.

He shrouded the two men and the three in one garment.

Ibn Awn: from Umayr ibn Ishaq, from Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, who said:

Hamza fought on the day of Uhud before the Messenger of Allah, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, with two swords, saying: "I am the lion of Allah."

Yunus ibn Bukayr narrated it, from Ibn Awn, from Umayr, as mursal, and added:

He stumbled, fell prostrate, the armor bared his belly, and the Abyssinian slave transfixed him with an arrow, opening him.

Abd al-Aziz ibn al-Majishun: from Abd Allah ibn al-Fadl, from Sulayman ibn Yasar, from Ja'far ibn Amr al-Damri, who said:

I went out with Ibn al-Khiyar to Syria; we asked about Wahshi; it was said: "There he is in the shade of his palace, as if a sanctuary."

We came, greeted him, and stood a little; Ibn al-Khiyar veiled himself with his turban: Wahshi saw nothing but his two eyes and his two feet.

He said: "O Wahshi, do you know me?"

He said: "No, by Allah, except that I know Adi ibn al-Khiyar married a woman called Umm Qital bint Abi al-Ays, who bore a boy at Mecca; a wet-nurse was sought, I carried him with his mother and handed her him: it is as if I see your two feet."

He said: Ubayd Allah uncovered his face, then said: "Will you not inform us of the killing of Hamza?"

He said: "Yes: Tu'ayma ibn Adi ibn al-Khiyar was killed at Badr; my master Jubayr said to me:

if you kill Hamza for my uncle, you are free.

When the people went out to Aynayn, and Aynayn is a mountain below Uhud, between it and Uhud a valley: Siba' said: is there a challenger?

Hamza said: "O son of the cleaver of backs! Do you defy Allah and His messenger?"

Then he pressed upon him, who was as yesterday's departed.

I lay in wait for Hamza beneath a rock until he passed by me; I threw it into his haunch until the javelin came out of his hip.

Until he said: I was at Ta'if; they sent messengers to the Prophet, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him; and it is said: messengers do not grow heated.

I went out with them; when he saw me he said: "Are you Wahshi?"

I said: "Yes."

He said: "The one who killed Hamza?"

I said: "Yes: the matter that reached you was as it was."

He said: "Can you veil your face from me?"

He said: I returned.

When he died and Musaylima went out, I said: I shall surely go out to him: perhaps I shall kill him and be requited by it for Hamza.

I went out with the people; their affair was as it was; and there was a man standing in the middle of a wall of soldiers, like a flayed camel, his hair standing; I aimed at him with my javelin and set it between his two breasts until it came out between his two shoulder-blades; and a man of the Ansar leapt upon him and struck him with the sword upon the nape.

Sulayman ibn Yasar said: I heard Ibn Umar say:

A slave girl, atop a house, said: "The commander of the believers: the black slave killed him."

Musa ibn Uqba said: the Muslims then dispersed seeking their slain, and they found no slain man who had not been mutilated, except Hanzala ibn Abi Amir: his father Abu Amir was with the polytheists, and he was left for his sake.

They claim his father stood over him slain and pushed his chest with his foot.

Then he said: "Two debts I have discharged; I have advanced to you at this your death-place, O Dunays; and by the life of Allah: you were one who joined kinship, good to the father."

The death of Hamzah ibn Abd al-Muttalib

And they found Hamza with his belly cut open; Wahshi carried his liver to Hind, in fulfillment of a vow she had vowed when her father was killed on the day of Badr; he was buried in a burnous that was on him: when it was raised to his head his feet appeared, so they covered his feet with some brushwood.

Ibn Ishaq: Burayda narrated to me, from Muhammad ibn Ka'b al-Quradhi:

The Messenger of Allah, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, said: "If I prevail over Quraysh, I shall mutilate thirty of them."

When the companions of the Messenger of Allah, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, saw his distress they said:

"If we prevail over them, we shall mutilate them as none of the Arabs has mutilated another."

Allah then sent down: "If you punish, then punish with the like of that wherewith you were afflicted" (Surah al-Nahl, verse 126), to the end of the surah.

The Messenger of Allah, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, pardoned.

Abu Bakr ibn Ayyash: from Yazid ibn Abi Ziyad, from Miqsam, from Ibn Abbas, who said:

When Hamza was killed, Safiyya his sister came; she met Ali and al-Zubayr, who let her see that they did not know.

She came to the Prophet, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, who said: "I fear for her reason."

He placed his hand on her breast and prayed for her; she uttered the invocation of return and wept.

Then she came, and stood over him: he had been mutilated; he said: "Were it not the grief of the women, I would have left him until he was raised from the crops of the birds and the bellies of the beasts."

Then he ordered the slain: they would pray over them with seven takbirs, and they would be raised, leaving Hamza; then seven would be brought, and he would say seven takbirs over them, until he had finished them.

Yazid: it is no proof; and the saying of Jabir, that he did not pray over them, is sounder.

And in the two Sahihs, from the hadith of Uqba:

That the Prophet, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, prayed over the slain of Uhud his prayer over the dead.

That was days before his death.

And it is narrated, from the hadith of Ibn Abbas and Abu Hurayra, his saying, upon him the salutation: "If I prevail over Quraysh, I shall mutilate seventy of them."

Then came down: "If you punish...", the verse.

Abdan: Isa ibn Ubayd al-Kindi informed us; Rabi' ibn Anas narrated to me; Abu al-Ala narrated to me, from Ubayy ibn Ka'b:

That there died, of the Ansar, on the day of Uhud, seventy; he said: they mutilated their slain.

The Ansar said: "If a day of time we reach them, we shall surpass them."

When came the day of the conquest of Mecca, an unknown man cried: "No Quraysh after today!" Twice.

Allah revealed to His Prophet: "If you punish...", the verse.

The Prophet, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, said: "Leave off the people."

Yunus ibn Bukayr: from Hisham ibn Urwa, from his father, who said:

Safiyya came on the day of Uhud with two garments for Hamza; when the Messenger of Allah, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, saw her, he disliked that she see Hamza in his state, and sent al-Zubayr to her to detain her, and took the two garments.

And beside Hamza was a slain man of the Ansar; they disliked preferring Hamza.

He said: "Cast lots between them: whichever of the two the better of the two garments flies to, it shall be his."

They cast lots between them; Hamza was shrouded in a garment, and the Ansari in a garment.

Ibn Ishaq: from Isma'il ibn Umayya, from Abu al-Zubayr, from Sa'id ibn Jubayr, from Ibn Abbas, who said:

The Prophet, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, said: "When your brothers were struck at Uhud, Allah placed their souls in the cavities of green birds that frequent the rivers of Paradise, eat of its fruits, and return to lanterns of gold hung in the shadow of the Throne.

When they tasted the sweetness of their food, drink and rest, they said:

Who shall inform our brothers about us, that we are alive in Paradise and provided, that they not falter before war nor slacken in jihad?

Allah said: I shall inform them of you."

There was then sent down: "And think not of those who are killed in the way of Allah that they are dead" (Surah Al Imran, verse 169).

Ibn Ishaq: Asim ibn Umar narrated to me, from Abd al-Rahman ibn Jabir ibn Abd Allah, from his father:

I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, say, when the companions of Uhud were mentioned: "By Allah, I would wish I were betrayed and killed with the companions of the mountain's brow."

He means: killed with them.

And there came, by an isnad in which there is weakness, from Jabir:

That the Prophet, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, when he saw Hamza slain, wept; and when he saw what he had been subjected to in outrage, he sobbed.