type: enemy
sourceFile: Sirah Transcript by Yasir QadhiUmayyah b. Khalaf
Bilal b. Rabah al-Habashi (بلال بن رباح الحبشي) refused to budge one bit. Ibn Mas'ud said, "Bilal considered his soul insignificant in front of Allah"—Bilal was willing to give up his soul for Allah SWT. So the Quraysh concentrated their efforts on him. "Bilal was handed over to the gangs/ruffians/teenagers, and they would run around with a rope around his neck and drag him through the streets of Makkah, all the while Bilal would say, 'Ahadun Ahad (أحد أحد - One, One)! Ahadun Ahad!'"—crying the oneness of Allah AWJ. Umayyah b. Khalaf (أمية بن خلف), the owner of Bilal, also participated in the torture of Bilal. Realize it's a delicate line that you are drawing, because slaves are very expensive 'property' — more expensive than camels. To punish your own slave means you are harming your own income. YET they tortured him, and risked his life. This is how much hatred they had for Islam, and showed the depth of their evil character. Bilal would be trapped and pinned under a rock under the hot sun. Many of the sahaba were amazed that Bilal survived his torture, as Amr b. al-As said the rocks were so hot you could literally cook raw meat on them. Amr also said he heard Bilal saying while he was tortured:
Many years later, Urwah b. Zubayr (nephew of Aisha) narrated: "Bilal was tortured by the people of Makkah, and by Umayyah b. Khalaf in particular, but he never even gave them one word to please them."
Once, the leaders of the Quraysh (Abu Jahl, Umayyah b. Khalaf, et al.) began talking with the Prophet ﷺ; and the Prophet ﷺ became hopeful that some of them were coming closer to Islam. And then Ammar, Suhayb, and Bilal passed by. Abu Jahl, who was worried that other leaders were getting sympathetic to Islam, took advantage of this and remarked, "O Muhammad, how is it possible that if you are upon the truth, THESE people are following it before us?! If you want us to accept your religion, you have to get rid of these people." He basically meant, "Your religion has meager slaves following it. How can WE the good and noble men, be in the same boat as them?" Once again, Jahiliyyah mentality. At this, Allah SWT revealed some verses in Surah al-An'am (سورة الأنعام), and in one of them, He SWT told the Prophet ﷺ:
v. Umayyah b. Khalaf (أمية بن خلف)
This is the version reported in Sahih Bukhari, thus the most authentic. And it says in this hadith, that in the month of Ramadan (the month is not mentioned in Bukhari, but we learn this from Ibn Ishaq), in the 5th year of the dawah, the Prophet ﷺ recited Surah al-Najm in its entirety. It's a very powerful and eloquent surah. The momentum and the excitement builds up especially towards the end. The power of the Quran affected the entire congregation, Muslim and non-Muslim, such that when the Prophet ﷺ recited the last verse, "Prostrate to Allah and worship Him," the Muslims fell into sajdah, and the Quraysh were so emotional that they too fell into sajdah. For the first time, Muslim and non-Muslim ALL united behind the Prophet ﷺ. Except for al-Walid b. al-Mughirah (or in another version Umayyah b. Khalaf) who put sand to his head and said, "This is good enough for me." By the time this news reached the 15 sahaba in Abyssinia, the rumor had been exaggerated.
Imagine the Prophet ﷺ reciting this so powerfully. And it's truly a powerful surah with constant rhetorical questions - so when the Prophet ﷺ reaches the end and falls down in sajdah, the Muslims fall down, and even the Quraysh fall down. And so version 1, the Bukhari version is the authentic version. There is no need for a far fetched tale to explain it. It was narrated by Ibn Abbas, "The Prophet ﷺ recited Surah al-Najm, and he prostrated, and all of the Muslims and the mushriks, and even the jinn, prostrated with him - except for al-Walid b. al-Mughirah (or in another version Umayyah b. Khalaf), he took sand and he put it on his head and said, 'This is sufficient for me.'"
This is a whole new ballpark. In Makkah there were no military developments. The Prophet ﷺ never ONCE did anything military in Makkah. In Makkah the Muslims are told to turn the other cheek, "Turn away from them" [Quran, 32:30], "Endure with beautiful patience" [Quran, 70:5], "Whatever they do to you, trust in Allah" [Quran, 26:216-217]. Despite the fact the sahaba are literally being torn to shreds like Yasir, Sumayyah, Bilal etc. Think about it - technically, the Prophet ﷺ could have told one of the sahaba to kill the persecutor of Bilal. But he understands this isn't the right way to do things, and he understands the repercussions. One needs to think 10 steps ahead and not just 1 step ahead. Even if Bilal is suffering, to kill Umayyah b. Khalaf would bring much more persecution the ummah cannot bear it now. One must look at the overall picture and weighs the benefits and the negatives, in Arabic it's called masalih (مصالح - pros) and mafasid (مفاسد - cons). In fact, in the early stage, some people wanted to fight, especially the youngest; but Allah criticizes them, "Don't you see those people who were told (in the days of Makkah), 'Lower your hands, establish salah and pay zakat.'" [see Quran, 4:77] (Note every reference of zakat in Makkah is optional charity; not compulsory. In Makkah, general rules of ethics came, but no real laws or obligatory commandments came down, other than praying 2 rak'at of salah five times a day.) Thus in Makkah, the Prophet ﷺ is forced to tell the people to not fight and just concentrate on spirituality. And then Allah says, "This same people who were bursting to fight, when Allah finally gave them permission (in Madani phase), all of a sudden they balked" [see Quran, 4:77]. This shows us those who talk the loudest act the least. So Allah criticized them for their hesitancy and lack of enthusiasm now. And of course, Allah SWT then revealed verses that allowed jihad (جهاد) and qital (قتال).
One of the particular incidents narrated in Sahih Bukhari shows us the targeting of caravans was something even the Ansar thought about. Sa'd b. Muadh (the most vibrant and dynamic leader of the Ansar) was a close friend of Umayyah b. Khalaf (the owner of Bilal) in the times of Jahiliyyah. So whenever Umayya went north, he would stop over in Madinah and stay at the house of Sa'd. And likewise Sa'd stayed with Umayya whenever he went to Makkah. One time, in 1 AH, Sa'd went to Makkah (perhaps for business trips). And it was the custom of the time they would always do tawaf whenever they visit Makkah. So Sa'd asks Umayya, "When is a good time to do tawaf?" Umayya said, "Go at a time when no one else is there." So clearly, they knew some tension could happen if Sa'd is seen in the public. Why? Because it was known that Sa'd is helping the Prophet ﷺ. Note his Islam is not known, but what is known is that he is supporting and protecting the Muslims - so Umayya says, "Go right in the heat of the sun when everyone is asleep."
Umayyah b. Khalaf (أمية بن خلف), the master of Bilal RA, was the stereotypical coward - overly fed huge man wearing fancy garments etc. He has a lot of money and a lot of slaves, but no skills of war or anything. When Umayya heard of the battle, he found someone to represent him, paid him a small fortune and said, "This man will represent me," so he was happy he managed to get out. But Umayya was ultimately one of the seniors/leaders of the Quraysh - his presence would bring great morale to the troops, so Abu Jahl said, "If you do not go, this will demoralize many people. You are the sayyid of this whole valley! [So you must go!]" But still Umayya was hesitant.
Abdullah b. Mas'ud said, "While Rasulullah was praying beside the Kabah, there were some Quraysh people sitting in a gathering. One of them said, 'Don't you see this (who does deeds just to show off)? Who amongst you can go and bring the dung, blood and the abdominal contents (intestines, etc.). of the slaughtered camels of the family of so and so and then wait till he prostrates and put that in between his shoulders?' The worst amongst them (Uqba b. Abi Mu'ayt) went (and brought them) and when Rasulullah prostrated, he put them between his shoulders. The Prophet remained in prostration and they laughed so much so that they fell on each other. A passerby went to Fatima, who was a young girl in those days. She came running and the Prophet was still in prostration. She removed them and cursed upon the Quraysh on their faces. When Rasulullah completed his prayer, he said, 'O Allah! Take revenge on Quraysh.' He said so thrice and added, 'O Allah! take revenge on Amr b. Hisham (Abu Jahl), Utbah b. Rabi'ah, Shayba b. Rabi'ah, al-Walid b. Utbah, Umayyah b. Khalaf, Uqba b. Abi Mu'ayt and Umara b. al-Walid.'" Abdullah b. Mas'ud added, "By Allah! I saw all of them dead in the battlefield on the Day of Badr and they were dragged and thrown in the Qalib (a well) at Badr. Rasulullah then said, 'Allah's curse has descended upon the people of the Qalib (well).'"
When the Quraysh army reached Juhfa (جحفة) —most likely before the envoy of Abu Sufyan reached them— one of the youngest men from the Banu Hashim (a son of the cousin of the Prophet ﷺ) who was in the Quraysh army, saw a dream. He saw in his dream that a crier, who had a camel with him, riding towards them and announced, "Utbah b. Rabi'ah has been killed, Shaybah b. Rabi'ah has been killed, Abu al-Hakam b. Hisham (Abu Jahl) has been killed, Umayyah b. Khalaf has been killed..." and he kept on mentioning every single famous name of the Quraysh, and said they all have been killed. And then the young man said the crier cut the hump of the camel and sent the camel forward, and the camel went into their encampment, and its blood splattered on every single tent. The interpretation of the dream is very obvious: not only are the mentioned people going to be killed, but every single tent will have casualties. But the army ignored his dream and considered it to be a meaningless dream - little did they realize it was a true dream.
This happened for a while until the Prophet ﷺ finished his salah and said to the sahaba, "When they tell you the truth, you beat them; and when they lie, you let them go," i.e. how foolish is that? You torture them just to make them say what you want to believe; and under torture, of course people will say anything. So what's the point? Then the Prophet ﷺ came up to them and asked, "Tell me, how many people are in the army?" They said, "We are just slaves. We don't know these things," and indeed most slaves are illiterate and uneducated - they can't count to 1,000 or even 100. So then the Prophet ﷺ changed the question and asked —and again here we see his wisdom ﷺ—, "Tell me, how many camels do the Quraysh kill every day?" - a question they would know, as this is their job to slaughter, cook, etc. So they replied, "9 or 10." And the Prophet ﷺ immediately said, "They [the army] are between 900 to 1,000 people." He then asked, "Who is present from their noblemen?" (And thus began a who's who of the Quraysh. This is the whole point and beauty of Badr, that EVERY SINGLE major henchman of the Quraysh will be eliminated. Every one to a last man! It was a victory upon victory!) The slaves began mentioning: Umayyah b. Khalaf, Utbah b. Rabi'ah, Shaybah b. Rabi'ah, Abu Jahl, etc.
When the Prophet ﷺ asked the same question for the fourth time, the great leader of the Ansar, Sa'd b. Muadh (سعد بن معاذ) stood up and asked, "Perhaps you are waiting for us, ya Rasulullah?" The Prophet ﷺ said, "Yes." So Sa'd gave that famous eloquent speech, "Ya Rasulullah! After all, we believed in you, trusted you, and testified that what you have come with is the Truth! And we have given you our promises and oath that we will listen and obey you!" Notice the beauty of Sa'd response. He didn't go back to the bare minimum and says, "The promise was only to *protect* you," rather he mentioned the other phrase in their oath, "We will *obey* you." Look at his Iman. He is going to the *spirit* of the law instead of the *letter* of the law. Then he said, "Ya Rasulullah! Go forth and do as you see fit! We are with you! I swear by the One who has sent you with the Truth, were you to charge us galloping into the ocean, we will go right behind you! We are not scared of meeting the enemy tomorrow! We will show you our patience during battle. And la'allaLlah (لعل الله - basically 'insha'Allah'), Allah will show you through us that which will comfort you. So go forth upon the blessings of Allah! We are right behind you!" When Sa'd said this, the Prophet ﷺ was so happy his face lit up like the moon; Sa'd response really reinvigorated him. And he ﷺ told them again, "By Allah, Allah has promised me one of the two. And it is this one, and every one of them (Abu Jahl, Umayyah b. Khalaf, etc.) will die tomorrow." He then began the actual preparations for war.
Another story is that of Umayyah b. Khalaf who met a very evil end. And indeed in this story we see Allah's justice is infinite. That as you do unto others it shall be done unto you.
Now, Allah willed Bilal RA sees Abd al-Rahman holding Umayyah's hand as a prisoner. So Bilal RA says, "Umayyah b. Khalaf, the leader of the kuffar! You are giving him security?! Over my dead body!" And Abd al-Rahman starts pleading, "Calm down, Bilal, calm down, these are my prisoners," etc. But Bilal kept on raising his voice until he called the Ansar and told them, "This is that man who tortured me!" And subhan'Allah it's amazing how Allah has preserved the honor and story of Bilal - it's well known even to our children, how much more so amongst the sahaba. Everyone knows it. So when Bilal showed Umayyah to the Ansar, now Abd al-Rahman had to negotiate with all of them, "These are my prisoners, they have entrusted themselves to me." But Bilal RA kept on saying, "You are not going to save this man." Until finally they surrounded Abd al-Rahman and began prodding Umayyah. So much so it's said Abd al-Rahman tried to stop them with his own body, and they would go underneath his hand etc. And Abd al-Rahman was actually wounded on his foot from trying to protect Umayyah. But eventually both Umayyah and his son were killed. And Abd al-Rahman would say till he died, "May Allah have mercy on Bilal. Not only did he stop me from getting my two ransoms, I never got the armor back as well."
Subhan'Allah the same voice that called out, "Ahad-un-ahad (One God, One God)", that was the voice that caused Umayyah's death. That same loud voice, Allah AWJ willed that it will come back now to haunt Umayyah. And it was that voice that brought the help of the Ansar and managed to kill Umayyah b. Khalaf before he reached the safety of the camp.
And Umayyah b. Khalaf was the only person who was not buried. The rest were. But Umayyah, after the battle had finished, they found his body on a bed of pebbles (which was what he would use to torture Bilal with). And whenever they tried to lift him up, the flesh would just decompose, so they couldn't pick him up. This is truly Allah's qadr. So they had to leave him on those pebbles, and for the sake of covering a dead body, they put more pebbles on top of him. They took the same burning hot pebbles of the desert and just threw it onto his body. Truly, كما تدين تدان (as you do unto others, so it shall be done unto you).
Also look at the picture: On the one side you have that very same entity who refused to do sajdah to Adam, Iblis the worst of all shaytan, and you have Abu Jahl, and Uqba, and Umayyah b. Khalaf, and Utbah. And 100m away you have Jibril AS the best of all angels, and the Prophet ﷺ, and Abu Bakr, and Umar, and Ali. Indeed this is truly the Yawm al-Furqan (يوم الفرقان - the Day of Decision/Criterion/Separation) [see Quran, 8:41]. What was separated? Truth from falsehood. Correctness from evil. Jibril vs. Iblis. The Prophet ﷺ vs. Abu Jahl. And so on. This type of battle has never taken place since Allah has created mankind up until the Day of Judgment. And this is why the Day of Badr was indeed the greatest victory given to the Prophet ﷺ in terms of actual military expeditions.
The 15 sahaba who died each got their own grave. As for the Quraysh, the 70+ who died, they were covered up in a well. They were buried by throwing the bodies into one of the abandoned wells, and then sand is thrown onto that to cover up the bodies. This shows us that in our shariah, we show a minimal respect to the bodies of those whom the Muslim army has killed. We don't just let them rot in the sun, even though we don't give them the same funeral procedure as we do for Muslim martyrs. This is the custom of the world - your dead are treated a million times better than your opponent's. So the mushriks who died, they were given a different type of burial. There was only one body that could not be buried, and that was Umayyah b. Khalaf's, as we mentioned last week.
Ibn Kathir narrates incidents in Makkah. The first of the soldiers to had returned back from Badr was al-Haysaman b. Abdullah al-Khuza'i (الحيسمان بن عبد الله الخزاعي). They saw him in a bloodied state, wounded, etc., so they asked him, "What is the matter?" He answered, "Utbah has been killed, Shayba has been killed, Abu al-Hakam has been killed, Umayyah b. Khalaf has been killed, Zum'a b. al-Aswad (زمعة بن الأسود) has been killed," etc., and he lists a who's who of the Quraysh. It's literally unbelievable for them. How many people one after the other died - wallahi it's amazing. And he kept on naming until finally they thought, "This guy has gone mad! He must've gone crazy - he's listing everybody it's not possible!" Until finally the news reached back to Safwan b. Umayyah (صفوان بن أمية), the son of Umayyah b. Khalaf. Safwan was sitting with his back to the Kabah and he said, "This is simply impossible! This man has gone crazy! Go ask him, where is Safwan b. Umayyah?" and he is referring to himself i.e. he is trying to prove Haysaman has gone crazy. So someone asked Haysaman, "O Haysaman, what happened to Safwan b. Umayyah?" It's of course a trick question. And he replied, "Safwan is sitting right over there, and I saw with my own eyes how they killed his father and brother." This made them realize Haysaman has not gone crazy, and he was telling the truth. And slowly but surely, the rest of the army came back.
The first incident is one of the most interesting assassination attempts on the life of the Prophet ﷺ. Ibn Hisham writes: Safwan b. Umayyah, the son of Umayyah b. Khalaf, whose father and brother had just died in Badr, he was sitting with his cousin Umayr b. Wahab al-Jumahi (the scout of the Quraysh who said to Abu Jahl on the morning of the Battle of Badr, "I don't think you will be able to kill any one amongst the Muslims until they kill at least one of you. And if 300 of you die, then what pleasure will you gain for winning?"). Umayr's son was in Madinah as a POW, and Umayr didn't have/didn't want to pay the ransom. And Safwan began ridiculing and criticizing and saying evil things about the Prophet ﷺ and the 'problems' that 'this new religion' had caused. Umayr said, "Wallahi, were it not for the fact that I owe so-and-so some money, and that I have a family to take care of, I would personally volunteer to go to Madinah, and execute Muhammad myself; for they have destroyed my family, and my son is right now a prisoner with them!" He wants to assassinate the Prophet ﷺ, but he is saying he has a family and a debt to take care of. So Safwan took this golden opportunity (his father was Umayyah, a rich man) and said, "What if I take care of your debt, and I promise to take care of your family to the extent that everything that I give my family, your family will get the same. Will you then agree?" Umayr said, "In that case, yes, but don't tell a single soul. Keep this conversation between the two of us."
Back to the battle: The pagans killed the sahaba down to the last three, and they said, "Just surrender now." Why did they want the three to surrender? For ransom; for money. And they promised, "If you surrender, we will protect you and give you safety." And so the three decided to surrender; they were Khubayb b. Adi (خبيب بن عدي), Zayd b. al-Dathinah (زيد بن الدثنة), and Abdullah b. Tariq (عبد الله بن طارق) — they came down from the hill. But immediately, the pagans jumped on them and tied them up like animals. Abdullah b. Tariq said, "This is the first sign of treachery," and so he refused to become a prisoner of war, he refused to walk and march, he refused every commandment. So they just killed him there and then and left him at the side of the road. As for the other two, they found out who wanted to purchase them — Khubayb was purchased by the tribe of Banu al-Harith (بنو الحارث) as he had killed someone from this tribe during the Battle of Badr; and Zayd b. al-Dathinah had been one of those who had attacked Umayyah b. Khalaf the master of Bilal (recall the story of Bilal after the Battle of Badr where he said, "I am not going to live if Umayyah lives" — and Zayd was one of those who surrounded and killed Umayyah), so Safwan b. Umayyah purchased him for a large sum in order to kill him for having been one of the people who killed his father.
We know the primary leader of the Quraysh is Abu Sufyan. His name was Sakhr b. Harb b. Umayyah. And the Banu Umayyah (بنو أمية) are the subtribe of the Banu Abd Shams (بنو عبد شمس), which are the subtribe of the Banu Abd Manaf (بنو عبد مناف), which are the parent tribe of the Banu Hashim (بنو هاشم). So the Banu Hashim and the Banu Umayyah are rival clans. (Side note: Abu Sufyan was born 10 years before the Prophet ﷺ, and he of course remained a 'noble' enemy, i.e., he was an enemy but he never stooped to dirty tactics that Abu Jahl, Umayyah b. Khalaf, Uqba, et al., did.) Abu Sufyan was the most noble and senior most of the people of the Quraysh after Badr, thus he became the de facto leader. And of course as we know, he had leadership in his blood — his son Muawiyah will eventually become the first king in Islam and found the Umayyad dynasty.
Another story that really shows his Iman: He was close friends with the infamous Umayyah b. Khalaf in the days of Jahiliyyah, and they considered themselves to be 'business brothers' and they stayed at each other's houses whenever one of them was on a business trip to one of their cities. One day, after the Hijrah, Sa'd went to Makkah for his business routine. And Umayyah was being a good friend to him he said, "Don't go out in the daytime (because there is tension between the people of Yathrib and Makkah now), go out at night." So Sa'd followed his advice and went out at night. But lo and behold, Abu Jahl heard the noise and went out to see what's going on, and when he saw it was Sa'd, he said to him, "How dare you come to Makkah when you have helped our renegade (the Prophet ﷺ)?!" And the two of them began verbally raising their voices. Umayyah sided with Abu Jahl and said to Sa'd, "Don't rebuke Abu al-Hakam (Abu Jahl), he is our leader"—it was going to get physical and Umayyah tried to calm Sa'd down and hold him back, but Sa'd said to Umayyah, "Get your hands off of me! For wallahi, I heard the Prophet ﷺ say that he will kill you!" And this shocked Umayyah, "Muhammad says he will kill me?! Wallahi, he has never spoken a lie in his life (i.e., this must be true)!" And he went back shocked to his wife and said, "Muhammad has said he will kill me!" and his wife said, "He has said this? Then it will be true." And when the Battle of Badr happened, that's why he tried to avoid the battle. But Abu Jahl got the better of him and convinced him to come, and so he marched to his death, as we discussed.
As for Safwan b. Umayyah (صفوان بن أمية), he is the son of Umayyah b. Khalaf, the owner of Bilal RA. And Safwan was of those who tried to fight back [see episode 79. But when it didn't work, he fled, and he told his family, "I can't live anymore, so I will fling myself in the ocean. You take care of yourselves." So he basically said, "It's now end of story for me, I'm just going to commit suicide." So he fled from Makkah, made his way to Jeddah, and then he planned to take a ship and drown himself. But recall Safwan had a cousin/best friend named Umayr b. Wahab who converted after the Battle of Badr [see episode 43 — and in the Conquest of Makkah, Umayr is a member of the Muslims coming from Madinah; and now Umayr is hunting, "Where is my cousin Safwan?" and he finds out Safwan has fled and threatened to commit suicide. So Umayr begs the Prophet ﷺ, "O Messenger of Allah, please give your protection to Safwan," meaning, "Tell me that I can go and tell him he has protection." So the Prophet ﷺ says, "I have given him protection." Then Umayr says, "Give me something that I can show him so he will believe me." So the Prophet ﷺ gave Umayr the very turban he wore when he entered Makkah.
Yet another conversion story we will discuss is that of another senior leader, Suhayl b. Amr (سهيل بن عمرو). He is of course the mastermind negotiator of Hudaybiyyah [see episode 65, the one whose son is Abu Jandal. Now Suhayl b. Amr is similar in age to Umayyah b. Khalaf and Abu Sufyan — he is the elder guy. (As for Safwan and Ikrimah, they are a generation younger. They are just the sons of the leaders.) Suhayl is one of the true elites and leaders still alive right now of the senior age as the Prophet ﷺ.
The Prophet ﷺ realized there would be war, so he asked help from the new Makkan converts. There were around 2,000 men in Makkah in addition to the 10,000 who came from Madinah. Therefore, some of the big names of Makkah, some of whom weren't even Muslim, participated in the Battle of Hunayn. There is a controversy as to whether non-Muslims can fight on the side of Muslims in an Islamic war: This incident suggests yes. In any case, of those who fought was Safwan b. Umayyah, the son of Umayyah b. Khalaf. Right now he isn't a Muslim [see episode 80. But he has lots of weapons and armor; so the Prophet ﷺ goes to him and asks for the armor, "I need your armor; I'm going to fight in Hunayn." Safwan said, "Are you confiscating it from me, or are you asking me to lend you?" The Prophet ﷺ said, "I'm asking you for a loan that I guarantee I will pay back," meaning, "I am going to borrow it, and if anything is damaged or harmed, you will get something equivalent or the price of it back." (This, by the way, shows us the fiqh principle: When you borrow something from somebody, you are responsible for it. If something happens to it in your possession, Islamic law requires that you pay back the damage.) He ﷺ also went to Abu Sufyan b. al-Harb and borrowed armor from him; and also from Hakim b. Hizam. All of this was borrowed and it was all later paid back.