Abu Sufyan ibn al-Harith
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Abu Sufyan ibn Al-Harith أبو سفيان بن الحارث | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 571 CE |
| Died | |
| Burial place | Al-Baqi Cemetery, Medina |
| Spouse | Jumanah bint Abi Talib |
| Parents |
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Abū Sufyān ibn al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib (Arabic: أبو سفيان بن الحارث بن عبد المطلب), born al-Mughīra (المغيرة), was a companion and first cousin of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.[1]
He was the son of Al-Harith ibn Abd al-Muttalib.[2] He was wet-nursed for a few days by Halimah bint Abi Dhuayb, making him a foster-brother of Muhammad.[2]
He married his cousin, Jumanah bint Abi Talib, and they had a son, Ja'far.[3][2] He also married another cousin, Umm 'Amr bint al-Muqawwim, and they had a daughter, Atika.[3] This may be the same daughter who later married Abu Sufyan's nephew Abd al-Muttalib (son of Rabi'ah ibn al-Harith).[4]: 343
Opposition to Islam
In their youth, Abu Sufyan and Muhammad were close friends;[4]: 397 [2] but as soon as Muhammad declared himself a prophet in 610, Abu Sufyan “treated him with enmity as no one before him."[4]: 397 As he later explained it: "We were with a community, a people of high-mindedness. I saw the excellence of the people who lived with their discernment and opinion. They went through a mountain pass, and we followed. Then the people of nobility and age began to break away from Muhammad, and they helped their gods and defended their forefathers, and we followed them."[4]: 400
"He showed hatred toward the Prophet for twenty years, never remaining behind when the Quraysh set out to fight Muhammad."[2] He fought at the Battle of Badr on the side of the polytheists. He was one of the first to arrive back in Mecca with the news of their defeat. As he told his uncle, Abu Lahab: "As soon as we met the party we turned our backs and they were killing and capturing us just as they pleased; and by God I don't blame the people for that. We met men in white on piebald horses between heaven and earth, and, by Allah, they spared nothing, and none could withstand them."[5]: 310
He also wrote satirical poems against Muhammad and the Muslims[2] and insulted Hassan ibn Thabit:
Who will deliver a message to Hassan from me?
I think you are one of the most evil of destitute men.
Your father is the father of evil, and your uncle is the same.
You are not better than your father and your uncle.[4]: 397
Hassan asked Muhammad's permission to compose counter-insults, promising to withdraw Muhammad's own name from the hostile sentiments, and permission was given.[4]: 397
In January 626 Muhammad led the final expedition to Badr, an appointment for a pitched battle between the Quraysh and the Muslims. The battle did not take place because the Meccan army never arrived.[5]: 447 Hassan ibn Thabit composed a poem about the situation:
We stayed by the shallow well eight nights
… Take Abu Sufyan [ibn Harb] a message from me,
for you are the best of a bad lot.[5]: 448–449
Abu Sufyan ibn al-Harith composed an answer:
O Hassan, son of a moldy date-eating woman,
… you stayed by the shallow well wanting us
and you left us in the palm-groves hard by.
Our horses and camels walked on the crops
and what they trod on they drove into the soft sand
… Don't describe your fine horses,
but speak of them as one who holds them firmly back.
You rejoice in them, but that is the right of others,
the horsemen of the sons of Fihr [Quraysh].[5]: 449
After the slaying of the Qurayza tribe in 627, Hassan ibn Thabit composed a poem to the effect that they had gone to Hell. Abu Sufyan responded with a counter-poem:
May Allah make that deed immortal,
May fire burn in its quarters!
You shall know which of us is far [from Hellfire]
and which of our lands will be harmed.
Had the palms therein been horsemen,
they would have said, "You have no place here, be off!"[5]: 481
In 628 an Arab merchant gave a report of Muhammad to the Emperor Heraclius. This person, who claimed to be Muhammad's "nearest kin" among the party, is usually identified as Abu Sufyan ibn Harb;[5]: 654–655 but Abu Sufyan ibn al-Harith also claimed to have been present. He said: "I did not see myself with [Heraclius], while I had fled from Islam, yet knowing only Muhammad. Thus Islam entered me, and I realised the error of polytheism."[4]: 400