Urwa ibn Mas'ud ath-Thaqafi

ProfileUrwa ibn Mas'ud ath-Thaqafi

Urwa (may Allah be pleased with him) was the son of Mas'ud, of the Thaqif of Ta'if, and one of the greatest men of his tribe. According to the early biographies, his mother was of Quraysh, and he was honoured in both Makkah and Ta'if. According to the early biographies, he was known for good sense and for settling quarrels between tribes.

When the Prophet ﷺ was at Hudaybiyyah, Budayl ibn Warqa of Khuza'ah brought Quraysh what the Prophet ﷺ had said, that he had come only to perform Umrah, and that he would make a truce with them. Urwa ibn Mas'ud got up and asked Quraysh whether they were not the sons and he the father, and they said yes. He asked whether they mistrusted him, and they said no. He reminded them that he had called the people of Ukaz to help them, and when they refused, he had brought his own relatives and children and those who followed him. He told them that the man had offered a fair proposal, and asked leave to go to him, and they let him. He spoke to the Prophet ﷺ, who told him what he had told Budayl. Urwa asked the Prophet ﷺ whether he would not shrink from uprooting his own kin, and whether he had heard of any Arab who had done that before him. He said that, if it came to the other thing, he saw around him no men of standing, but a mix of tribes who would run away and leave him. Abu Bakr answered him sharply. Urwa asked who it was, and was told that it was Abu Bakr, and he said that, but for a favour of his that he had never repaid, he would answer him in kind. Urwa went on talking to the Prophet ﷺ and kept reaching for his beard, and al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah stood by the Prophet's ﷺ head with a sword in his hand and a helmet on, and each time Urwa put out his hand, he struck it with the handle of the sword and told him to take it off the beard of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Urwa asked who he was, and when he heard that it was al-Mughirah, he called him a traitor, and said that he was working to put right the harm of his treachery. According to the early biographies, al-Mughirah was his nephew.

Then Urwa began to look at the Companions. Whenever the Messenger of Allah ﷺ spat, it fell into the hand of one of them, who rubbed it on his face and skin. If he gave an order, they carried it out at once. If he made wudu, they nearly fought over the water he left. When they spoke in his presence, they lowered their voices, and they did not stare at his face, out of respect. Urwa went back to his people and said that he had been to the kings, to Caesar and Khosrau and the Najashi, and had never seen a king honoured by his men as Muhammad ﷺ was honoured by his Companions. He said that the man had offered them a good proposal, and told them to take it (Sahih al-Bukhari).

Jabir told that the Prophet ﷺ said that the prophets were shown to him, and he saw Isa, son of Maryam, and the one who most resembled him was Urwa ibn Mas'ud (Sahih Muslim).

According to the early biographies, when the Prophet ﷺ besieged Ta'if after Hunayn, Urwa was not there, but in Jurash, learning how to make siege engines. According to the early biographies, he heard that the Prophet ﷺ had been merciful in Makkah, and went to the Prophet ﷺ, and accepted Islam, and asked leave to go back to his people and call them. According to the early biographies, the Prophet ﷺ said that they would kill him, and Urwa said that they loved him more than their firstborn. He went back, and they greeted him in the old way, and he gave them the greeting of Islam, and told them to accept Islam. They were angry, and shoved him, and left. According to the early biographies, he called the adhan from the roof of his house at dawn, and a man of the Banu Malik shot him with an arrow. As he lay dying, his people wanted to take revenge, and he told them not to, for his blood was a charity to settle the quarrel, and asked to be buried with the martyrs who had fallen at Ta'if. According to the early biographies, when the Prophet ﷺ heard, he said that Urwa was like the man of Ya Sin, who called his people to Allah, and they killed him.

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