In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The 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.
Abu Sufyan ibn al-Harith, may Allah be pleased with him.
Seldom have ties connected two individuals
or bonds united two people
as closely and firmly as they did between Muhammad ibn 'Abdillah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
and Abu Sufyan ibn al-Harith.
For Abu Sufyan was a peer of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
and an equal in age;
they were born at nearly the same time,
raised within the same family,
and he was a close first cousin of the Prophet.
His father, al-Harith, and 'Abdullah, the father of the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
were brothers who both sprang from the loins of 'Abd al-Muttalib.
Moreover, he was a foster brother to the Prophet through nursing,
for Lady Halimah al-Sa'diyyah nursed them both together at her breast.
Furthermore, above all this,
he was an intimate friend of the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, before prophethood,
and one of the people who resembled him most closely.
Have you ever seen or heard of a closer kinship,
or firmer ties than those that existed between Muhammad ibn 'Abdillah and Abu Sufyan ibn al-Harith?
Thus, it was naturally expected of Abu Sufyan
that he would be the foremost of people to answer the call of the Messenger, peace be upon him,
and the swiftest to step forward and follow him.
But the matter turned out entirely contrary to all expectations.
For scarcely had the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, openly proclaimed his call
and warned his kinsfolk,
than the fire of hatred flared up within Abu Sufyan against the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
Friendship turned into enmity,
ties of kinship into estrangement,
and brotherhood into rejection and aversion.
On the day the Messenger openly proclaimed his Lord's command, Abu Sufyan ibn al-Harith was
one of the most prominent, renowned horsemen of Quraysh,
and one of their foremost, towering poets.
So he devoted his spear and his tongue to fighting the Messenger and opposing his call,
mobilizing all his energies to inflict harm upon Islam and the Muslims.
Quraysh never waged a war against the Prophet
without him being the one to kindle its flames,
nor did they inflict any harm upon the Muslims
without him having a major hand in it.
Abu Sufyan awakened the muse of his satirical poetry,
giving free rein to his tongue in lampooning the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
composing scurrilous, obscene, and deeply hurtful verses against him.
Abu Sufyan's hostility toward the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, dragged on
for nearly twenty years,
during which he left no scheme against the Messenger unexecuted,
and spared no variety of affliction upon the Muslims
without committing it and shouldering its sin.
Then, shortly before the conquest of Mecca,
it was decreed that Abu Sufyan would embrace Islam.
The story of his acceptance of Islam is an extraordinary one,
recorded in the books of Seerah and chronicled in historical texts.
Let us leave the man himself to recount the tale of his conversion,
for his personal feeling of it is deeper,
and his description of it is more accurate and truthful.
He said: "When the cause of Islam triumphed and became firmly established,
and news spread that the Messenger was marching toward Mecca to conquer it,
the vast earth seemed narrow to me.
I wondered, 'Where shall I go?
Whom shall I accompany, and with whom shall I cast my lot?'
Then I went to my wife and children and said,
'Prepare to leave Mecca,
for the arrival of Muhammad is imminent,
and I will inevitably be killed if the Muslims overtake me.'
They replied to me:
'Is it not time for you to see that the Arabs and non-Arabs alike
have submitted in obedience to Muhammad
and embraced his religion,
while you still persist in your enmity toward him,
though you were the most duty-bound of all people to support and aid him?'
They kept softening my heart toward the religion of Muhammad
and making it desirable to me,
until Allah expanded my breast to Islam.
I stood up immediately
and said to my servant, Madhkur:
'Prepare a she-camel and a horse for us.'
I took along my son Ja'far,
and we rode swiftly toward al-Abwa',
situated between Mecca and Medina,
for word had reached me that Muhammad had camped there.
When I drew near to it,
I disguised myself so that no one would recognize me
and kill me before I could reach the Prophet
and declare my Islam in his presence.
I proceeded on foot for about a mile,
while the vanguards of the Muslims were marching forward,
heading toward Mecca group after group.
I would step aside from their path out of fear of them,
dreading that someone might recognize me
from among the companions of Muhammad.
While I was in that state,
the Messenger suddenly appeared in his procession.
I stepped forward into his path and stood directly before him,
and I uncovered my face.
No sooner had he caught sight of me and recognized me
than he turned his face away to the other side.
I moved around to face him again,
but he turned his face away from me once more.
So I shifted again to face him,
and he repeated this several times.
As I had set out to meet the Prophet, I had had no doubt
that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
would rejoice at my embracing Islam,
and that his companions would rejoice at his joy.
But when the Muslims saw
the aversion of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
toward me, their faces hardened against me,
and they all turned away from me.
Abu Bakr met me
and turned away from me most sternly.
I looked at 'Umar ibn al-Khattab
with a look by which I sought to soften his heart,
but I found him even more averse than his companion;
in fact, he incited one of the Ansar against me.
The Ansari said to me:
'O enemy of Allah!
Are you the one who used to torment the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
and torment his companions,
and whose hostility toward the Prophet reached
the east and the west of the earth?'
The Ansari kept berating me harshly and raising his voice,
while the Muslims glared at me with piercing eyes,
pleased with the ordeal I was facing.
At that point,
I caught sight of my uncle al-'Abbas,
so I sought refuge with him
and said: 'O uncle!
I had hoped that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, would rejoice
at my embracing Islam due to my kinship with him
and my standing among my people,
but you have seen how he treated me.
Speak to him on my behalf so that he may be pleased with me.'
He replied: 'No, by Allah!
I will never utter a single word to him
after seeing how he turned away from you,
unless a fitting opportunity presents itself;
for I hold the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, in the utmost awe and reverence.'
I said: 'O uncle!
To whom, then, do you leave me?'
He replied:
'I have nothing more for you than what you have heard.'
Then distress overtook me and grief overwhelmed me.
Soon after, I saw my cousin
'Ali ibn Abi Talib,
so I spoke to him about my situation,
but he replied with the same words our uncle al-'Abbas had spoken.
At that point,
I returned to my uncle al-'Abbas and said: 'O uncle!
If you cannot soften the heart of the Messenger toward me,
then at least restrain that man who insults me and incites others to insult me.'
He said:
'Describe him to me.'
So I described him to him,
and he said:
'That is Nu'ayman ibn al-Harith al-Najjari.'
He went to him and said:
'O Nu'ayman!
Abu Sufyan
is the cousin of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him;
and even if the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
is displeased with him today,
he will surely be pleased with him one day,
so desist from him.'
Al-'Abbas persisted with him until he agreed to leave me alone,
saying:
'I shall not confront him after this hour.'
When the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, halted at al-Juhfah,
I sat at the door of his tent,
with my son Ja'far standing beside me.
When he saw me as he emerged from his lodging,
he averted his face from me.
Yet I did not despair of gaining his favor;
whenever he halted at a campsite, I would sit at his door,
keeping my son Ja'far standing beside me.
Whenever he saw me, he would turn away from me,
and I remained in that state for some time.
When the matter became unbearable and the distress deepened,
I said to my wife:
'By Allah, either the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, shall be pleased with me,
or I will take this son of mine by the hand
and we shall wander aimlessly across the land
until we perish of hunger and thirst.'
When word of that reached the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
his heart softened toward me.
When he came out of his tent,
he looked at me with a gentler gaze than before,
and I hoped he would smile.
Then the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, entered Mecca,
and I entered alongside his retinue.
He proceeded out to the Mosque,
and I went out hastening in front of him, never parting from him under any circumstance.
When the Day of Hunayn arrived,
the Arabs assembled to fight the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him,
in numbers they had never assembled before,
preparing for the encounter as they had never prepared previously,
and resolved to deal a fatal, decisive blow to Islam and the Muslims.
The Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, marched out
to meet them amidst a multitude of his Companions,
and I marched out with him.
When I saw the massive hordes of the polytheists,
I said, "By Allah, today I shall surely expiate
all my past enmity toward the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
and the Prophet shall witness from my deeds that which pleases Allah and pleases him."
When the two armies clashed,
the onslaught of the polytheists pressed fiercely upon the Muslims,
so weakness and disarray crept into their ranks,
and the men began to scatter away from the Prophet,
until an ignominious defeat was about to befall us.
Yet suddenly, there was the Messenger—may my father and mother be ransomed for him—
standing firm in the heart of the battlefield upon his gray mule,
like an immovable mountain,
drawing his sword,
defending himself and those around him like a charging lion.
At that moment,
I leaped down from my horse
and shattered the scabbard of my sword,
while Allah knows that my sole desire was to die defending the Messenger of Allah.
My uncle Al-Abbas seized the bridle of the Prophet's mule
and stood at his side,
while I took up my position on the other side,
with my sword in my right hand, defending the Messenger of Allah,
while my left hand held firmly to his stirrup.
When the Prophet observed my valorous fighting,
he said to my uncle Al-Abbas, "Who is this?"
He replied, "This is your brother and cousin,
Abu Sufyan Ibn al-Harith;
so be pleased with him, O Messenger of Allah!"
He said, "I am indeed pleased with him,
and may Allah forgive him every enmity he ever bore against me."
My heart soared with joy at the pleasure of the Messenger of Allah with me,
and I kissed his foot in the stirrup.
Then he turned to me and said,
"My brother, by my life, advance and strike!"
The words of the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, inflamed my fervor,
and I launched an assault upon the polytheists that dislodged them from their positions;
the Muslims charged alongside me until we drove them back a league,
scattering them in every direction.
From the day of Hunayn onward, Abu Sufyan Ibn al-Harith
basked in the Prophet's gracious pleasure,
rejoicing in the honor of his companionship.
Yet he never raised his eyes to look at him,
nor did he ever fix his gaze upon his face, out of deference to him
and shame over his past conduct toward him.
Abu Sufyan would bite his fingers in deep remorse
over the dark days he had spent in the pre-Islamic Jahiliyyah, veiled from the light of Allah,
and deprived of His Book.
He devoted himself entirely to the Qur'an night and day, reciting its verses,
acquiring deep understanding of its rulings, and absorbing its admonitions.
He turned away from the worldly life and its fleeting splendor,
and turned toward Allah with every fiber of his being.
The Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, even saw him once entering the mosque,
and said to 'A'ishah, may Allah be pleased with her:
"Do you know who this is, O 'A'ishah?"
She replied, "No, O Messenger of Allah."
He said, "He is my cousin, Abu Sufyan Ibn al-Harith.
Look at him: he is the first to enter the mosque
and the last to leave it,
and his gaze never leaves the strap of his sandal."
When the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, passed away to the Highest Companion,
Abu Sufyan Ibn al-Harith grieved for him as a mother grieves for her only child,
weeping over him as a beloved weeps over his beloved.
He eulogized him in one of the most exquisite elegies,
overflowing with anguish and sorrow,
dissolving into profound heartbreak and lamentation.
During the caliphate of Al-Faruq, may Allah be pleased with him,
Abu Sufyan sensed that his own death was drawing near,
so he dug his grave with his own hands.
No more than three days had passed thereafter
before death came upon him,
as though he had an appointed meeting with death.
He turned to his wife, his children, and his family,
and said, "Do not weep over me,
for by Allah, I have not been tainted by a single sin since I embraced Islam."
Then his pure soul departed,
and Al-Faruq, may Allah be pleased with him, led the funeral prayer over him.
He and the noble Companions mourned his passing deeply,
counting his death as a grave calamity that had struck Islam and its people.
Abu Sufyan Ibn al-Harith, a master among the noble youth of Paradise.
Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.