Abu Sufyan ibn Harb

ProfileAbu Sufyan ibn Harb

Abu Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him) was Sakhr ibn Harb, of the Banu Abd Shams, one of the great clans of Quraysh, and was somewhat older than the Prophet ﷺ. According to the early biographies, he was a wealthy man who ran the great trade caravans to Syria and Yemen, and he was a clever, patient man who plotted against Islam more than he fought it himself. His wife was Hind bint Utbah. His daughter Umm Habibah was among the early Muslims, and went to Abyssinia with her husband, and the Prophet ﷺ later married her. According to the early biographies, when he heard that the Prophet ﷺ had proposed to her, he said that this was a man of noble blood, and would not be refused, even though he was trying to fight him.

He led Quraysh in the wars against the Muslims after Badr, where many of the older leaders were killed. According to the early biographies, he was bringing the great caravan back from Syria when the Muslims set out to intercept it. He changed his route, sent word to Makkah that the caravan was safe, and said there was no need to fight, but Abu Jahl insisted, and Quraysh met the Muslims at Badr. A son of his was killed there and another was taken captive and released. At Uhud, he commanded the Makkan army, and after the Muslims were struck from behind, he stood on high ground and called out asking whether Muhammad was among them, and the Prophet ﷺ told his Companions not to answer. He asked the same about Abu Bakr and about Umar, and then said that they must all have been killed. Umar could not stop himself from saying that he lied, and that Allah had kept what would grieve him. Abu Sufyan shouted that Hubal was exalted, and the Prophet ﷺ told them to answer that Allah is higher and greater, then that Allah is their protector and they have none, and he said a day for a day (Sahih al-Bukhari). According to the early biographies, he also led the Quraysh and their allies who besieged Madinah at the Trench, and spent heavily to raise the army.

When the Muslims and Quraysh had made the truce of Hudaybiyyah, he went to Syria on a trading journey. He told how he and his companions were summoned to Heraclius at Jerusalem. Heraclius asked which of them was closest in blood to the man who claimed to be a prophet, and Abu Sufyan said that it was he, and Heraclius had him stand in front, and the others behind him, so that they would correct him if he lied. Abu Sufyan said that were it not for fear of being called a liar by his companions, he would not have told the truth about the Prophet ﷺ. Heraclius asked about his family, whether any of his forefathers was a king, whether he had ever been accused of lying, who followed him, whether his followers were increasing, whether any left in anger at his religion, whether he broke his promises, whether they fought him and how it went, and what he commanded. Abu Sufyan answered that he was of noble family, no king was among his ancestors, they had never found him to lie, the weak followed him and they were increasing, none left in anger, they fought and sometimes the one side won and sometimes the other, and that he told them to worship Allah alone, to pray, to speak truthfully, to be chaste and to keep family ties. He added that there was a truce, and that they did not know what the Prophet ﷺ would do in it (Sahih al-Bukhari). Afterwards, he said to his companions that the matter of Muhammad ﷺ had become so great that even the king of the Romans feared him, and that from that day he was sure that the Prophet ﷺ would prevail, until Allah brought him to Islam.

According to the early biographies, when Quraysh broke the truce, he went to Madinah to try to renew it, and was turned away by the Prophet ﷺ, by Abu Bakr, by Umar, and by Fatimah. He went to his daughter Umm Habibah, who folded up the bed of the Prophet ﷺ so that he would not sit on it, and told him that it was the bed of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and he was an unbeliever. According to the early biographies, he went to his old friend al-Abbas, who told him to give it up, and al-Abbas brought him to the Prophet ﷺ in the night before the conquest. The Prophet ﷺ asked whether it was not time that he knew there is no god but Allah, and he said that his kindness and generosity were great, and that if there had been another god, it would have helped him by now. When the Prophet ﷺ asked whether it was not time that he knew he was the Messenger of Allah, he said that he still had doubts about that, and al-Abbas told him to accept Islam before his neck was struck, and he did. According to the early biographies, al-Abbas asked the Prophet ﷺ to give him some mark of honour, since he was a man who liked such things, and the Prophet ﷺ announced as he entered Makkah that whoever entered the house of Abu Sufyan was safe, and whoever shut his door was safe (Sahih Muslim and Sunan Abi Dawud, graded hasan). According to the early biographies, when Sa'd ibn Ubadah called out that this was the day of slaughter, Abu Sufyan complained to the Prophet ﷺ, and he took the banner from Sa'd and said that this was a day of mercy.

Ibn Abbas said that the Muslims did not at first look at Abu Sufyan or sit with him. He asked the Prophet ﷺ for three things: that he marry his daughter Umm Habibah to him, that he take Mu'awiyah as his scribe, and that he make Abu Sufyan a commander, so that he could fight the unbelievers as he had fought the Muslims. The Prophet ﷺ said yes to each (Sahih Muslim). Salman, Suhayb and Bilal once said, when Abu Sufyan passed them, that the sword of Allah had not taken its due from the neck of the enemy of Allah. Abu Bakr said that they should not say this to the old man of Quraysh and their chief, and told the Prophet ﷺ, who said that he might have angered them, and if he had, he had angered his Lord. Abu Bakr went back and asked whether he had angered them, and they said no, may Allah forgive him (Sahih Muslim). After Hunayn, the Prophet ﷺ gave him a hundred camels, among the leaders of Quraysh whose hearts he wished to win (Sahih Muslim). According to the early biographies, he fought beside the Prophet ﷺ at Hunayn, and lost an eye at Ta'if, and when he told the Prophet ﷺ, he said that he could ask Allah to restore it, or he could have Paradise, and he chose Paradise. According to the early biographies, he helped to pull down the idol of the Banu Thaqif.

According to the early biographies, Abu Bakr appointed him over part of Najran, and he fought the apostates. When he stood in line at the door of Umar, who let in people by order of their coming to Islam, and sent him to the back, he said that they should blame only themselves, that the others were called and rushed, and they were called and were slow. According to the early biographies, he went to Syria as an old man, and at Yarmuk fought under the banner of his son Yazid, and was heard crying out for the help of Allah. He lost his other eye there. When the news of his death came, his daughter Umm Habibah waited three days, and then asked for perfume, and said that she did not need it, but she had heard the Prophet ﷺ say that a woman should not mourn for any dead person more than three days, except for a husband (Sahih al-Bukhari).

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