Mu'attib ibn Abi Lahab

ProfileMu'attib ibn Abi Lahab

Mu'attib (may Allah be pleased with him) was the younger son of Abu Lahab and Umm Jamil, and the brother of Utbah, Utaybah and Durrah. According to the early biographies, he married Atikah, the daughter of Abu Sufyan ibn al-Harith, the Prophet's ﷺ cousin and foster brother, who had been a bitter enemy of the Prophet ﷺ and later became one of his closest Companions. According to the early biographies, after the Hijrah the house that had been the Prophet's ﷺ and Khadijah's came into his hands, and he lived in it, next to his father. Usamah asked the Prophet ﷺ, at the conquest, whether he would stay in his house in Makkah, and he answered, "Has Aqil left any property or house?" Aqil and Talib, who were not Muslims, had inherited Abu Talib's property, and Jafar and Ali, who were, had inherited nothing (Sahih al-Bukhari). So who held which house in Makkah is a question for the biographies, and the Prophet ﷺ did not take it back.

According to the early biographies, when the Prophet ﷺ entered Makkah he looked for his two cousins, Utbah and Mu'attib, and asked al-Abbas where they were. They had gone to the edge of Makkah with the other leaders of Quraysh, afraid of what he would do. He sent al-Abbas for them, and when they came, riding quickly, he took them by the hand and walked with them to the Multazam, and spoke with them for a long time. He came back with joy in his face, and said that he had asked his Lord for his two cousins and that Allah had given them to him.

At Hunayn, according to the early biographies, Mu'attib and Utbah did not run with the others. Al-Bara told that the Muslims were struck by the archers of the Hawazin, and the Prophet ﷺ got down from his white mule and called out, "I am the Prophet, no lie, I am the son of Abd al-Muttalib," while Abu Sufyan ibn al-Harith led the mule (Sahih al-Bukhari; Sahih Muslim). According to the early biographies, Mu'attib was struck in the eye, and wore a patch over it for the rest of his life. He fought with the Prophet ﷺ at Ta'if as well, and it bound the Prophet ﷺ to him and to Utbah, who had once divorced his daughter.

According to the early biographies, he named his sons Abdullah, Muhammad, Musa and Ubaydullah, among others, and the names are what people notice about them: a man whose father was named in the Quran called one of his sons Muhammad. According to the books on the narrators of hadith, his descendants included al-Qasim ibn al-Abbas ibn Muhammad ibn Mu'attib ibn Abi Lahab. They were Muslims who recited the surah that begins with their ancestor's name. Of the children of Abu Lahab, only Utaybah died an unbeliever.

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