Mughirah ibn Shu'bah

ProfileMughirah ibn Shu'bah

Mughirah (may Allah be pleased with him) was the son of Shu'bah, of the Thaqif of Ta'if, and the nephew of Urwa ibn Mas'ud. According to the early biographies, he was tall and strongly built, with broad shoulders and long hair in four braids, and was known for his cleverness and cunning. Before Islam, according to the early biographies, he went with a party of men of the Banu Malik, a clan of Thaqif, to visit the ruler of Egypt, who was generous to guests. The others were given gifts, and he, who was not of their clan, was left out. On the way home, he gave them wine, and when they were drunk, he killed them and took their goods. Then he came to Madinah to become a Muslim. It is reported that before Islam al-Mughirah killed some men in his company and took their property and came to embrace Islam, and the Prophet ﷺ told him that he accepted his Islam but would not take anything of the property, since it was taken by treachery (Sahih al-Bukhari). According to the early biographies, he worried about whether he was forgiven, and was told that Islam wipes out what was before it, but that he must set right what he had done.

He was close to the Prophet ﷺ, and took on himself the work of guarding him. At Hudaybiyyah, when Urwa ibn Mas'ud, his uncle, who came to talk for Quraysh, kept stretching out his hand to touch the Prophet's ﷺ beard as he spoke, al-Mughirah, standing by the Prophet's ﷺ head, with a sword and wearing a helmet, hit his hand with the hilt, and told him to take his hand from the beard of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Urwa asked who it was, and was told that it was al-Mughirah, and answered that he was the traitor whose treachery he was always trying to make good (Sahih al-Bukhari). According to the early biographies, he was one of those who took the pledge under the tree. He told how he poured water for the Prophet ﷺ on a journey, and the Prophet ﷺ washed his face and arms, wiped his head and wiped over his socks (Sahih al-Bukhari). He told that the Prophet ﷺ used to stand in prayer until his feet swelled, and when asked why, said, should he not be a thankful servant (Sahih al-Bukhari).

According to the early biographies, when the Thaqif of Ta'if sent a delegation to the Prophet ﷺ after the siege, he asked to receive them, though some of them were his relatives and he had once wronged their clan, and the Prophet ﷺ told him to pitch a tent for them near the mosque, so that they could hear the Quran and watch the Muslims pray in Ramadan. They bargained, and asked to be excused from things, and the Prophet ﷺ said that there was no good in a religion without prayer. They did not want to give up their idol, al-Lat, and asked someone else to destroy it, because they feared it would harm them. The Prophet ﷺ sent al-Mughirah with them. According to the early biographies, he climbed up it, and stood on it, and struck it, and pulled it down to show that it was only stone, and the Thaqif became Muslims.

According to the early biographies, Umar made him a governor of Basra and of Kufa, and sent him as an envoy to the Persian commander before the battle of al-Qadisiyyah. He lost an eye at Yarmuk. He stayed out of the fighting between the Companions, and withdrew from public life for years, until Mu'awiyah made him governor of Kufa again. According to the early biographies, he was one of the shrewdest of the Arabs, and it was said of him that if there were many doors to a city, he would find a way through them all. He died in Kufa, about 50 AH, and left several children, one of whom, Urwah, became a governor and a scholar. A report that he dropped his ring into the Prophet's ﷺ grave so that he could say he was the last to touch him is not graded, and is left out.

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