Safwan ibn Umayyah

ProfileSafwan ibn Umayyah

Safwan (may Allah be pleased with him) was the son of Umayyah ibn Khalaf, of the Banu Jumah of Quraysh. According to the early biographies, his father was one of the worst persecutors of the Muslims in Makkah and was killed at Badr, and Safwan was one of the wealthiest men in Makkah, with stores of weapons and many horses and camels. According to the early biographies, he fought against the Prophet ﷺ at Uhud and at the Trench, and it was he who, after Badr, promised to pay the debts of his cousin Umayr ibn Wahb if he went to kill the Prophet ﷺ.

Salim ibn Abdullah told that the Prophet ﷺ used to pray against Safwan ibn Umayyah, Suhayl ibn Amr and al-Harith ibn Hisham, and that a verse was then revealed that the matter was not the Prophet's ﷺ (Sahih al-Bukhari). Ibn Umar told that, on the day of Uhud, the Prophet ﷺ prayed against Abu Sufyan, al-Harith ibn Hisham and Safwan ibn Umayyah, and when the verse came down, Allah turned to them in mercy and they accepted Islam (Jami at-Tirmidhi, graded sahih).

According to the early biographies, at the Conquest of Makkah he fled towards Jeddah, to take a ship for Yemen, as Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahl also fled. Umayr ibn Wahb asked the Prophet ﷺ for his safety, and went after him with a sign of it, which the books say was his cloak or his turban. Safwan did not believe him at first, but Umayr told him that the Prophet ﷺ was the kindest and most forbearing of men. According to the early biographies, he came back, and asked the Prophet ﷺ whether it was true that he had given him safety, and the Prophet ﷺ said yes. He asked for two months to think, and the Prophet ﷺ gave him four.

According to the early biographies, he went out with the Prophet ﷺ to Hunayn and the siege of Taif without yet being a Muslim. Safwan told that the Prophet ﷺ borrowed coats of mail from him on the day of Hunayn, and he asked whether he was taking them by force, and the Prophet ﷺ said that it was a loan, and that they would be returned (Sunan Abi Dawud, graded sahih by al-Albani). Ibn Shihab told that after Hunayn the Prophet ﷺ gave Safwan a hundred camels, then another hundred, then another hundred, and Safwan said that the Prophet ﷺ had given him what he gave him at a time when he was the most hated of people to him, and he had gone on giving until he was the dearest of people to him (Sahih Muslim; Jami at-Tirmidhi, graded sahih). According to the early biographies, he accepted Islam then.

Safwan told that he was sleeping in the mosque on a cloak worth thirty dirhams, and a man took it from under him. He caught him and took him to the Prophet ﷺ, who ordered that his hand be cut off. Safwan said that he would sell him the cloak on credit, and the Prophet ﷺ said, "Why did you not do so before bringing him to me?" (Sunan Abi Dawud, graded sahih by al-Albani). According to the early biographies, he was known for his generosity, and lived in Makkah until he died, and his son Abdullah was killed alongside Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr.

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