Abu Mihjan ath-Thaqafi

ProfileAbu Mihjan ath-Thaqafi

Abu Mihjan (may Allah be pleased with him) was of the Thaqif of Ta'if. According to the early biographies, his name is given as Malik ibn Habib or Abdullah ibn Habib, and he accepted Islam when Thaqif came to the Prophet ﷺ in 9 AH, so that he is counted as a Companion, though no account of him with the Prophet ﷺ is told. According to the early biographies, he was a brave horseman and a poet, eloquent and generous, and a man of means. According to the early biographies, he could not give up drink, and neither blame nor punishment kept him from it.

According to the early biographies, Abu Bakr used him in battle despite this, and Umar flogged him for drinking seven times, and one report says eight. According to the early biographies, Umar then sent him away to an island in the sea, with a man to keep him there, and he escaped and joined Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas in Persia, as Sa'd was about to fight at al-Qadisiyyah. He asked Sa'd to let him fight, and Umar had written to Sa'd to restrain him, so Sa'd chained him and said that he would deal with him afterwards. According to the early biographies, as he lay in chains he cried over his state, and said in verse that it was grief enough that the horses went out with the spears while he was left bound. According to the early biographies, he asked Sa'd's wife to let him go, and promised that if Allah brought him back alive, he would come and put himself in the chains again, and if he was killed, she would be rid of him. She believed him, and let him free.

According to the early biographies, he took one of Sa'd's horses, called al-Balqa, and went out with his face covered, and fought bravely at the front of the Muslims, until the Muslims wondered whether he was an angel. According to the early biographies, Sa'd saw the horse and the way the man fought and thought that it was like Abu Mihjan, but he knew that Abu Mihjan was chained. According to the early biographies, when the battle was over, Abu Mihjan went back and put himself in the chains again, and Sa'd's wife told Sa'd what had happened. Sa'd let him go, and said that, by Allah, he would never strike a man through whom Allah had given the Muslims what He had given them. Abu Mihjan said that he used to drink it, and when the punishment was carried out on him, he was cleansed of it, but now, by Allah, he would never drink it again. According to the early biographies, in one report he said that he had only gone on because he was too proud to be told to stop by someone's blows. According to the early biographies, he never drank again, and said in verse that he had once thought it pleasant, but that it has things in it that destroy the most patient of men, and swore that he would not drink it again while he lived.

According to the early biographies, he went on fighting in the conquests, and died on campaign, in Azerbaijan according to some, and in Jurjan according to others.

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