Biographies of Companions Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahl He was at the end of the third decade of...

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Biographies of Companions

Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahl

He was at the end of the third decade of his life on the day the Prophet made public his call to
guidance and truth. He was held in high regard by the Quraysh, being wealthy and of noble
lineage. Some others like him, Saud ibn Abi Waqqas, Musab ibn Umayr and other sons of
noble families in Makkah had become Muslims. He too might have followed their example
were it not for his father. His father, Abu Jahl, was the foremost proponent of Shirk and one of
the greatest tyrants of Makkah. Through torture, he sorely tested the faith of the early believers
but they remained steadfast. He used every stratagem to make them waver but they continued
to affirm the truth.
Ikrimah found himself defending the leadership and authority of his father as he pitted himself
against the Prophet. His animosity towards the Prophet, his persecution of his followers and
his attempts to block the progress of Islam and the Muslims won the admiration of his father.
At Badr, Abu Jahl led the Makkan polytheists in the battle against the Muslims. He swore by alLaat and al-Uzza that he would not return to Makkah unless he crushed Muhammad. At Badr
he sacrificed three camels to these goddesses. He drank wine and had the music of singing
girls to spur the Quraysh on to fight.
Abu Jahl was among the first to fall in the battle. His son Ikrimah saw him as spears pierced
his body and heard him let out his last cry of agony. Ikrimah returned to Makkah leaving behind
the corpse of the Quraysh chieftain, his father. He wanted to bury him in Makkah but the
crushing defeat they suffered made this impossible.
From that day, the fire of hatred burned even more fiercely in the heart of Ikrimah. Others
whose fathers were killed at Badr, also became more hostile to Muhammad and his followers.
This eventually led to the Battle of Uhud.
At Uhud Ikrimah was accompanied by his wife, Umm Hakim. She and other women stood
behind the battle lines beating their drums, urging the Quraysh on to battle and upbraiding any
horseman who felt inclined to flee.
Leading the right flank of the Quraysh was Khalid ibn Walid. On the left was Ikrimah ibn Abu
Jahl. The Quraysh inflicted heavy losses on the Muslims and felt that they had avenged
themselves for the defeat at Badr. This was not, however, the end of the state of conflict.
At the battle of the Ditch, the Quraysh mushrikun besieged Madinah. It was a long siege. The
resources and the patience of the mushrikun were wearing out. Ikrimah, feeling the strain of
the siege, saw a place where the ditch, dug by the Muslims, was relatively narrow. With a
gigantic effort, he managed to cross. A small group of Quraysh followed him. It was a foolhardy
undertaking. One of them was immediately killed and it was only by turning on his heels that
Ikrimah managed to save himself.
Nine years after his hijrah, the Prophet returned with thousands of his companions to Makkah.
The Quraysh saw them approaching and decided to leave the way open for them because
they knew that the Prophet had given instructions to his commanders not to open hostilities.
Ikrimah and some others however went against the consensus of the Quraysh and attempted
to block the progress of the Muslim forces. Khalid ibn al-Walid, now a Muslim, met and

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defeated them in a small engagement during which some of Ikrimah's men were killed and
others who could fled. Among those who escaped was Ikrimah himself.
Any standing or influence that Ikrimah may have had was now completely destroyed. The
Prophet, peace be upon him, entered Makkah and gave a general pardon and amnesty to all
Quraysh who entered the sacred mosque, or who stayed in their houses or who went to the
house of Abu Sufyan, the paramount Quraysh leader. However he refused to grant amnesty to
a few individuals whom he named. He gave orders that they should be killed even if they were
found under the covering of the Kabah. At the top of this list was Ikrimah ibn Abu Jahl. When
Ikrimah learnt of this, he slipped out of Makkah in disguise and headed for the Yemen.
Umm Hakim, Ikrimah's wife, then went to the camp of the Prophet. With her was Hind bint
Utbah, the wife of Abu Sufyan and the mother of Muawiyah, and about ten other women who
wanted to pledge allegiance to the Prophet. At the camp, were two of his wives, his daughter
Fatimah and some women of the Abdulmuttalib clan. Hind was the one who spoke. She was
veiled and ashamed of what she had done to Hamzah, the Prophet's uncle, at the battle of
Uhud.
"O Messenger of God," she said, "Praise be to God Who has made manifest the religion He
has chosen for Himself. I beseech you out of the bonds of kinship to treat me well. I am now a
believing woman who affirms the Truth of your mission." She then unveiled herself and said:
"I am Hind, the daughter of Utbah, O Messenger of God. "
"Welcome to you," replied the Prophet, peace be on him.
"By God, O Prophet" continued Hind, "there was not a house on earth that I wanted to destroy
more than your house. Now, there is no house on earth that I so dearly wish to honor and raise
in glory than yours."
Umm Hakim then got up and professed her faith in Islam and said: "O Messenger of God,
Ikrimah has fled from you to the Yemen out of fear that you would kill him. Grant him security
and God will grant you security."
"He is secure," promised the Prophet. Umm Hakim set out immediately in search of Ikrimah.
Accompanying her was a Greek slave. When they had gone quite far on the way, he tried to
seduce her but she managed to put him off until she came to a settlement of Arabs. She
sought their help against him. They tied him up and kept him. Umm Hakim continued on her
way until she finally found Ikrimah on the coast of the Red Sea in the region of Tihamah. He
was negotiating transport with a Muslim seaman who was saying to him:
"Be pure and sincere and I will transport you."
"How can I be pure?" asked Ikrimah.
"Say, I testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah."
"I have fled from this very thing," said Ikrimah.
At this point, Umm Haklm came up to Ikrimah and said:
"O cousin, I have come to you from the most generous of men, the most righteous of men, the
best of men . . . from Muhammad ibn Abdullah. I have asked him for an amnesty for you. This
he has granted. So do not destroy yourself. "
"Have you spoken to him?"
"Yes, I have spoken to him and he has granted you amnesty," she assured him and he
returned with her. She told him about the attempt of their Greek slave to dishonor her and
Ikrimah went directly to the Arab settlement where he lay bound and killed him.

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At one of their resting places on their way back, Ikrimah wanted to sleep with his wife but she
vehemently refused and said:
"I am a Muslimah and you are a Mushrik."
Ikrimah was totally taken aback and said, "Living without you and without your sleeping with
me is an impossible situation." As Ikrimah approached Makkah, the Prophet, peace be upon
him, told his companions: "Ikrimah ibn Abu Jahl shall come to you as a believer and a muhajir
(a refugee). Do not insult his father. Insulting the dead causes grief to the living and does not
reach the dead."
Ikrimah and his wife came up to where the Prophet was sitting. The Prophet got up and
greeted him enthusiastically.
"Muhammad," said Ikrimah, "Umm Hakim has told me that you have granted me an amnesty."
"That's right," said the Prophet, "You are safe."
"To what do you invite?" asked Ikrimah.
"I invite you to testify that there is no god but Allah and that I am the servant of Allah and His
messenger, to establish Prayer and pay the Zakat and carry out all the other obligations of
Islam."
"By God," responded Ikrimah, "You have only called to what is true and you have only
commanded that which is good. You lived among us before the start of your mission and then
you were the most trustworthy of us in speech and the most righteous of us." Stretching forth
his hands he said, "I testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is His servant
and His messenger." The Prophet then instructed him to say, "I call on God and those present
here to witness that I am a Muslim who is a Mujahid and a Muhajir". This Ikrimah repeated and
then said:
"I ask you to ask God for forgiveness for me for all the hostility I directed against you and for
whatever insults I expressed in your presence or absence." The Prophet replied with the
prayer:
"O Lord, forgive him for all the hostility he directed against me and from all the expeditions he
mounted wishing to put out Your light. Forgive him for whatever he has said or done in my
presence or absence to dishonor me."
Ikrimahs face beamed with happiness.
"By God, O messenger of Allah, I promise that whatever I have spent obstructing the way of
God, I shall spend twice as much in His path and whatever battles I have fought against God's
way I shall fight twice as much in His way."
From that day on, Ikrimah was committed to the mission of Islam as brave horseman in the
field of battle and as a steadfast worship per who would spend much time in mosques rending
the book of God. Often he would place the mushaf on his face and say, "The Book of my Lord,
the words of my Lord" and he would cry from the fear of God.
Ikrimah remained true to his pledge to the Prophet. Whatever battles the Muslims engaged in
thereafter, he participated in them and he was always in the vanguard of the army. At the
battle of Yarmuk he plunged into the attack as a thirsty person after cold water on a blistering
hot day. In one encounter in which the Muslims were under heavy attack, Ikrimah penetrated
deep into the ranks of the Byzantine. Khalid ibn al-Walid rushed up to him and said, "Don't,
Ikrimah. Your death will be a severe blow to the Muslims."
"Let us carry on, Khalid," said Ikrimah, now at the peak of motivation. "You had the privilege of

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being with the Messenger of God before this. As for myself and my father, we were among his
bitterest enemies. Leave me now to atone for what I have done in the past. I fought the
Prophet on many occasions. Shall I now flee from the Byzantines? This shall never be." Then
calling out to the Muslims, he shouted, "Who shall pledge to fight until death?"
Four hundred Muslims including al-Harith ibn Hisham and Ayyash ibn Abi Rabiah responded to
his call. They plunged into the battle and fought heroically without the leadership of Khalid ibn
al-Walid. Their daring attack paved the way for a decisive Muslim victory.
When the battle was over, the bodies of three wounded mujahideen lay sprawled on the
battleground, among them Al-Harith ibn Hisham, Ayyash ibn Abi Rabiah and Ikrimah ibn Abu
Jahl. Al-Harith called for water to drink. As it was brought to him, Ayyash looked at him and
Harith said:
"Give it to Ayyash." By the time they got to Ayyash, he had just breathed his last. When they
returned to al-Harith and Ikrimaha, they found that they too had passed away.
The companions prayed that God may be pleased with them all and grant them refreshment
from the spring of Kawthar in Paradise, a refreshment after which there is thirst no more.

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