In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Mawaddah Association is pleased
to present to you portraits from the lives of the Companions,
by 'Abd al-Rahman Ra'fat al-Basha,
may Allah have mercy on him.
Wahshi ibn Harb, may Allah be pleased with him.
Who was this man who broke the heart of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
when he killed his uncle Hamzah ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib on the day of Uhud,
and then brought solace to the hearts of the Muslims
when he killed Musaylimah the Liar on the day of al-Yamamah?
He was Wahshi ibn Harb the Abyssinian,
whose agnomen was Abu Dasmah.
He had a dramatic, tragic, and bloody story,
so lend him your ear that he may tell you his tragedy himself.
Wahshi said:
I was an Abyssinian slave belonging to Jubayr ibn Mut'im,
one of the chieftains of Quraysh.
His uncle, Tu'aymah,
had been killed on the day of Badr at the hands of Hamzah ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib,
and Jubayr grieved over him with the utmost sorrow.
He swore by Allah and al-'Uzza that he would surely avenge his uncle
and kill his killer,
so he began seeking an opportunity to lay in wait for Hamzah.
Not much time had passed after that
before Quraysh resolved to march to Uhud
to eliminate Muhammad ibn 'Abdillah
and avenge those slain at Badr.
They mobilized their forces, gathered their allies, and prepared their equipment,
then entrusted leadership to Abu Sufyan ibn Harb.
Abu Sufyan deemed it best
to include with the army a group of the noble women of Quraysh—
those whose fathers, sons, brothers,
or relatives had been killed at Badr—
in order to incite the army to fight
and prevent the men from fleeing.
Among the foremost women who went out with him
was his wife, Hind bint 'Utbah,
whose father, uncle, and brother
had all been killed at Badr.
When the army was about to depart,
Jubayr ibn Mut'im turned to me and said:
"O Abu Dasmah, would you like to free yourself from slavery?"
I asked, "And who could secure that for me?"
He replied, "I guarantee it for you."
I asked, "How?"
He said, "If you kill Hamzah ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib,
the uncle of Muhammad, in revenge for my uncle Tu'aymah ibn 'Adi,
you are a free man."
I said, "And who will guarantee to fulfill that for me?"
He said, "Whomever you wish;
and I shall take all the people as witnesses to that."
I said, "I will do it, and I am equal to the task."
Wahshi continued: I was an Abyssinian man
who hurled the javelin in the Abyssinian manner,
seldom missing anything I aimed at with it.
So I took my javelin and set out with the army,
walking near the rear
close to the women,
for I had no interest in the fighting itself.
Whenever I passed by Hind,
the wife of Abu Sufyan, or whenever she passed by me
and saw the javelin glinting in my hand under the glare of the sun, she would say:
"Heal our hearts, O Abu Dasmah, and heal your own!"
When we reached Uhud and the two forces met,
I went out searching for Hamzah ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib.
I already knew him beforehand,
and indeed, Hamzah was not hidden from anyone,
for he used to place an ostrich feather on his head
to invite champions to single combat,
as was the custom of the valiant Arabic warriors.
It was not long
before I saw Hamzah roaring among the crowds like a light-gray camel,
cleaving through men with his sword,
such that none could stand against him
nor withstand his strike.
While I was preparing myself to attack him,
taking cover from him behind a tree or a boulder,
lying in wait for him to draw near me,
a horseman from Quraysh named Siba' ibn 'Abd al-'Uzza stepped ahead of me toward him,
shouting, "Duel me, O Hamzah! Duel me!"
Hamzah stepped forward to face him, saying,
"Come at me, son of an uncircumcised woman! Come at me!"
Then, in the blink of an eye, Hamzah struck him
with his sword, and Siba' fell slain,
thrashing in his own blood before him.
At that moment, I maneuvered into a position relative to Hamzah
that pleased me, and I began shaking my javelin
until I felt confident in my aim,
then threw it, and it struck him in the lower abdomen
and emerged from between his legs.
He took two heavy steps toward me,
then collapsed, with the javelin still
embedded in his body. I left it in him
until I was certain that he had died.
Then I went to him, pulled the javelin out of him,
and returned to the camp, where I sat down,
as I had no further need for anything else.
Then the heat of the battle intensified,
with much charging and retreating.
Soon, however, the tide turned
against the companions of Muhammad, and slaughter increased among them.
At that point, Hind bint 'Utbah rushed
toward the slain Muslims,
with a group of women behind her,
and began mutilating them,
ripping open their bellies, gouging out their eyes,
and cutting off their ears.
She then made a necklace and earrings from their noses and ears,
adorned herself with them, and handed her original golden necklace
and earrings to me,
saying, "They are yours, O Abu Dasmah!
Keep them, for they are precious."
When the war laid down its burdens,
I returned with the army to Makkah.
Jubayr ibn Mut'im fulfilled his promise to me
and emancipated me,
so I became a free man.
But the cause of Muhammad continued to grow day after day,
and the Muslims increased in strength hour by hour.
Thus, whenever Muhammad's cause grew greater,
my distress deepened,
and panic and fear took hold of my soul.
I remained in this state
until Muhammad entered Makkah with his massive army as a conqueror.
At that moment,
I fled frantically to al-Ta'if,
seeking safety there.
But the people of al-Ta'if were not long
in inclining toward Islam,
and they prepared a delegation to meet Muhammad
and declare their entry into his religion.
At that, despair overwhelmed me;
the vast earth felt narrow around me, and I was at a loss as to where to go.
I said, "I shall flee to al-Sham, or Yemen,
or to some other land."
By Allah, while I was immersed in this grief of mine,
a well-wishing man felt pity for me and said:
"Woe to you, O Wahshi!
By Allah, Muhammad does not kill anyone
who enters his religion and bears the testimony of truth."
No sooner had I heard his words
than I headed straight toward Yathrib
seeking Muhammad.
When I reached it, I inquired about his whereabouts
and learned that he was in the mosque.
I entered upon him stealthily and cautiously,
advancing toward him until I was standing
directly over his head, and I said:
"I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah,
and that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger."
When he heard the two testimonies of faith, he raised his eyes to me,
and upon recognizing me, he turned his gaze away from me and said:
"Are you Wahshi?"
I replied, "Yes, O Messenger of Allah."
He said, "Sit down and tell me how you killed Hamzah."
So I sat down and told him the story.
When I finished my account,
he turned his face away from me and said:
"Woe to you, O Wahshi!
Conceal your face from me, and do not let me see you after today."
From that day onward,
I avoided letting the noble Prophet's gaze fall upon me.
Whenever the Companions sat in front of him,
I would take my place behind him.
I remained in that state until the Messenger of Allah,
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, passed away to be near his Lord.
Wahshi then added, saying:
Despite my knowing that
Islam wipes away whatever came before it,
I continued to feel the gravity of the deed
and the enormity of the calamity
with which I had afflicted Islam and the Muslims.
I began looking for an opportunity to expiate
for what I had done in the past.
So when the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, joined the Highest Companion, and the Caliphate
over the Muslims passed to his companion Abu Bakr,
Banu Hanifah—the followers of
Musaylimah the Liar—apostatized along with the other apostates.
Thereupon, Abu Bakr dispatched an army
to fight Musaylimah and bring his people,
Banu Hanifah, back to the religion of Allah.
I said to myself, "By Allah, this is
your opportunity, O Wahshi, so seize it
and do not let it slip from your hands!"
Then I set out with the Muslim armies,
taking with me the very javelin with which I had killed
the Master of Martyrs, Hamzah ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib,
hoping to kill Musaylimah with it or attain
martyrdom. When the Muslims stormed
the Garden of Death against Musaylimah and his army
and engaged the enemies of Allah in close combat,
I began stalking Musaylimah. I saw him
standing with a sword in his hand, and I also saw
a man from the Ansar lying in wait for him just as
I was lying in wait for him, both of us seeking
to kill him. When I positioned myself relative to him,
I shook my javelin until, once it was steady
in my hand, I hurled it at him,
"was in my hand, I hurled it toward him,
and it struck him. At the very same moment
that I released my javelin at Musaylimah,
one of the Ansar lunged at him, dealing him
a blow with his sword. Thus, your Lord
knows which of us truly killed him. If it was
I who killed him, then I have killed
the best of people after Muhammad, and I have also killed
the worst of people."
He killed the best of people after Muhammad,
and he also killed the worst of people.
Historians