Abu Sufyan ibn Harb
Encyclopedia
Sakhr ibn Harb more commonly known as Abu Sufyan (1 September 560 - 1 August 650) was a leading man of the Quraish of Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...

. He was a staunch opponent of the Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

ic prophet Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...

 before accepting Islam later in his life.

Opposition to Islam

Abu Sufyan was the chieftain of the Banu Abd-Shams clan of the Quraish tribe, which made him one of the most powerful in Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...

. Abu Sufyan viewed Muhammad as a threat to Mecca's social order, a man aiming for political power and a blasphemer of the Quraish gods.

Abu Sufyan's daughter Ramlah was among several Muslims emigrating to Abyssinia to escape harassment in Mecca
Migration to Abyssinia
The migration known as the first Hijarat was made in two groups totalling more than a hundred persons. According to Islamic tradition, eleven male and five female Sahabah, the Muslims who originally converged in Mecca, sought refuge from Quraysh persecution in the Kingdom of Aksum in of in the...

.

Military conflict with Muhammad

After Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...

 had migrated to Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...

 in 622, the Quraish confiscated the belongings they had left behind. Some scholars have suggested that the Muslims attacked several of the Quraish's caravans coming from Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

 to Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...

. During that period of time, caravans were accompanied by military escorts of varying strength.

Due to the hospitality Muhammad received in Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...

, the Meccans feared the growing influence of the Muslims and thus were contriving plans to safeguard their trade routes by eliminating the religion of Islam. The Muslims of Medina were aware of such activities and began to make preparations for self-defense.

In 624, Abu Sufyan was the appointed leader of a caravan that was escorted by a force of around 400 or 500 soldiers. Muhammad's Muslim force of 300 poorly armed men moved to intercept them. It is related that God revealed to Muhammad that his people were now given permission to defend themselves, rather than continuing to undertake persecution from the Meccans. The Muslims ended up engaging a Meccan army, a force sized 1000 men. This conflict, the Battle of Badr
Battle of Badr
The Battle of Badr , fought Saturday, March 13, 624 AD in the Hejaz region of western Arabia , was a key battle in the early days of Islam and a turning point in Muhammad's struggle with his opponents among the Quraish in Mecca...

, ultimately ended in a Muslim victory. The death of most Quraish leaders in the battle not only left Abu Sufyan the leader of Mecca but also marked the fulfillment of a prophecy.

Abu Sufyan served as the military leader in the later Meccan campaigns against Medina, including the Battle of Uhud
Battle of Uhud
The Battle of Uhud was fought on March 19, 625 at the valley located in front of Mount Uhud, in what is now northwestern Arabia. It occurred between a force from the Muslim community of Medina led by the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and a force led by Abu Sufyan ibn Harb from Mecca, the town from...

 in 625 and the Battle of the Trench
Battle of the Trench
The Battle of the Trench also known as Battle of Ahzab, Battle of the Confederates and Siege of Medina , was a fortnight-long siege of Yathrib by Arab and Jewish tribes. The strength of the confederate armies is estimated around 10,000 men with six hundred horses and some camels, while the...

 in 627, but he could not attain final victory.

Eventually the two parties would agree to an armistice, the Treaty of Hudaybiyya in 628, which allowed Muslims to make the pilgrimage to the Kaaba.

Muslim conquest of Mecca

When the armistice was violated in 630 by allies of the Quraish, Muhammad moved towards liberating Mecca from non-Muslim authority. Abu Sufyan, sensing that the balances were now tilted in Muhammad's favour and that the Quraish were not strong enough to hinder the Muslims from conquering the city, travelled to Madina, trying to restore the treaty. No agreement was reached between the two parties and Abu Sufyan returned to Mecca empty handed. These efforts ultimately ensured that the conquest occurred without battle or bloodshed. His wife, Hind, had barbarically chewed the liver of the famous, holy warrior Hamza.

Abu Sufyan travelled back and forth between Mecca and Madinah, still trying to reach a settlement. According to the sources, he found assistance in Muhammad's uncle al-Abbas, though some scholars consider that historians writing under the rule of Abbas's descendants, the Abbasid dynasty, had exaggerated Abbas's role and downplayed the role of Sufyan, who was the ancestor of the Abbasids' enemies.

Later life

After the conquest of Mecca, Abu Sufyan fought as one of Muhammad's lieutenants in the subsequent wars. During the Siege of Taif, he lost an eye.

When Muhammed died in 632, Abu Sufyan was in charge of Najran
Najran
Najran , formerly known as Aba as Sa'ud, is a city in southwestern Saudi Arabia near the border with Yemen. It is the capital of Najran Province. Designated a New town, Najran is one of the fastest-growing cities in the kingdom; its population has risen from 47,500 in 1974 and 90,983 in 1992 to...

.

Abu Sufyan also fought in the Battle of Yarmouk
Battle of Yarmouk
The Battle of Yarmouk was a major battle between the Muslim Arab forces of the Rashidun Caliphate and the armies of the East Roman-Byzantine Empire. The battle consisted of a series of engagements that lasted for six days in August 636, near the Yarmouk River, along what is today the border...

 in 636, in which he lost his second eye. He played a very important role in war. He was naqeeb of war from Muslim army. He fought under command of his son Yazid bin Abi Sufyan.

Abu Sufyan died at the age of ninety in 650 at Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...

. His kinsman Uthman Ibn Affan, who had become the third Caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word   which means "successor" or "representative"...

 in 644, led the prayer over his grave.

Legacy

Abu Sufyan's son Muawiyah  became the founder of the Umayyad
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four major Arab caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph. Although the Umayyad family originally came from the...

 dynasty, the first Muslim dynasty which ruled the Islamic world for a century, from 661 to 750. Mu'awiyah's son, Yazid
Yazid
-Given name:* Yazid I , second Umayyad Caliph upon succeeding his father Muawiyah* Yazid II, Umayyad caliph* Yazid III, Umayyad caliph* Yazid Kaïssi, French-born Moroccan footballer* Yazid Mansouri, French-born Algerian footballer...

, succeeded him as caliph.

Women and children

1.

2. From Ṣāfiyah d. Abu al-'Āṣ:
Daughter: Ramlah (Umm Ḥabībah)(Married to 'Ubayd-allah ibn Jaḥsh, followed by Muhammad after renounced Islam in Abyssinia)
Daughter: Ḥabībah d. Jaḥsh


3. From the daughter of Abu 'Amr ibn 'Umaiyah:
Son: 'Amr (Captive in the Battle of Badr)

4. From Ṣāfiyah d. 'Abd al-Muṭṭalib ibn Hāshim: 1 son
Other children:
Ḥanzalah (Killed in the Battle of Badr),Yazīd,Ḥārith,Umm Ḥakam,'Utbah (son: Walīd)

External links

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