Tuesday

Saidina Hamzah Ibn 'Abd Al-Muttalib RA

Illustration Only: "The Lion of Allah"
After a day full of work, worship, and entertainment, the people of Makkah fell into a deep sleep. The people of the Quraish were turning in their beds except for one who forsook his bed of sleep. Rasulullah . used to go to bed early, rest for a few hours, and then wake up in great anxiety for the expected appointment with Allah. Rasulullah . went to the praying comer in his room to supplicate to his God. Whenever his wife awakened upon hearing the voice of his long supplications, she shed tears out of warm sympathy and asked Rasulullah not to take it so hard and to get some sleep. Rasulullah only answered her in tears, "The time for sleep is over, Khadijah." At that time Rasulullah was not yet a serious problem for the Quraish, although he had started to draw their attention as Rasulullah started to spread his call secretly; those who believed in Rasulullah were still quite few.

There were people among the non-believers who loved and respected Rasulullah . They yearned to declare their belief in Rasulullah and become one of his followers, but their fear of the prevailing norms and the pressure of inherited traditions prevented them. Among them was Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib, Rasulullah ’s paternal uncle who was at the same times his brother through fosterage (i.e. they had been breast-fed by the same woman- Thuwaibah).

Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib was fully aware of the greatness of his nephew (Rasulullah ﷺ) and of the truth he came with. Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib used to know him not only as a nephew, but also as a brother and friend because they both belonged to the same generation. They always played together and walked together on the same road of life step by step. But in their youth they departed, each one in his own way: Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib preferred the life of leisure, trying to take his place among the prominent leaders of the Quraish and Makkah, while the young Muhammad (Rasulullah ﷺ) chose the life of seclusion away from the crowd, immersed in the deep spiritual meditation that prepared him to receive the truth.

Despite the fact that each of them had a different way of living out his own youth, Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib was always attentive to the virtues of his friend and nephew. Such virtues helped the young Muhammad (Rasulullah ) to win a special place in the hearts of people and helped to draw a clear outline for his great future.

One day, Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib went out as usual. At the Kaabah he found a number of Quraishi noblemen. Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib sat with them, listening to what they had to say: they were talking about Muhammad. For the first time, Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib saw they are worried about the call his nephew was propagating with a tone of bitterness and rage marking their voices. Before that, they had never paid attention - at least they had pretended not to do so - but on that day their faces looked perplexed, upset, and aggressive.
 
Illustration Only: "Saidina Hamzah bin Abdul Muttalib RA"
Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib laughed at their talks and accused them of exaggeration. Abu Jahl said to his companions that Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib was the best one to know the danger of his nephew's call and that he pretended to underestimate this danger till the Quraish would relax so much that when they awakened it would be after his nephew had complete control over them.

They kept talking and threatening while Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib sat, sometimes smiling, sometimes frowning. When they dispersed Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib mind was full of new ideas about the issues of his nephew that they had discussed in his presence.

Days passed and the Quraish's whispering about Rasulullah ’s call increased. Later, whispering turned into provocation and Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib watched from a distance. His nephew's composed, steadfast attitude towards their provocations puzzled him. Such an attitude was quite unfamiliar to the Bani Quraish, who was themselves known to be strong and challenging.

If doubts of the greatness and truth of Muhammad (Rasulullah ) could steal into anyone's heart, they would have never stolen into Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib's heart, because he was the best one to know Muhammad from his early childhood to his youth, then to his proud, honest manhood. Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib knew Muhammad (Rasulullah ) as he knew himself and maybe more. Since they had come into life together, grown up together, and attained full strength together, Muhammad's life had been as pure and clear as the sunlight. It never occurred to Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib that Muhammad could make an error or a doubtful act in his life. Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib never saw Muhammad angry, hopeless, greedy, careless, or unstable.

Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib was not only physically strong, but was also wise and strong-willed. Therefore, it was natural for him to follow a man in whose honesty and truthfulness he wholeheartedly believed. Thus Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib kept a secret in his heart that was soon going to be disclosed.

Then, come the day. Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib went out of his house towards the desert carrying his bow to practice his favorite sport of hunting (in which he was very skilled). Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib spent most of his day there. On his way home he passed by the Kaabah as usual, to circumambulate it.

The female servant of 'Abd Allah Ibn Jud'aan met Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib near the Kaabah and said: "O Abu 'Umara! You haven't seen what happened to your nephew at the hands of Abu Al-Hakam Ibn Hisham. When she saw Muhammad sitting there, Abu Al-Hakam Ibn Hisham hurt him and called him bad names and treated him in a way that he hated." She went on to explain what Abu Jahl had done to Rasulullah .

Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib listened to her carefully and paused for a while, and then with his right hand Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib picked up his bow and put it on his shoulder. Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib walked with fast, steady steps towards the Kaabah, hoping to meet Abu Jahl there. Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib decided that if he did not find him, he would search for him everywhere till he did.

As soon as he reached the Kaabah he glanced at Abu Jahl sitting in the yard in the middle of the Quraishi noblemen. Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib RA advanced very calmly towards Abu Jahl and hit him with his bow on the head till it broke the skin and bled. To everybody's surprise, Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib RA shouted: "You dare to insult Muhammad while I follow his religion and I say what he says? Come and retaliate upon me. Hit me if you can." In a moment they all forgot how their leader Abu Jahl had been insulted and they were all thunderstruck by the news that Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib RA had converted to Rasulullah 's religion and that he saw what Rasulullah saw and said what he said. Could Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib RA really have converted to Islam when he was the strongest and most dignified Quraishi young man?

Such was the overwhelming disaster to which the Quraish were helpless, because Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib RA’s  conversion would attract others from the elite to do the same. Thus Rasulullah ﷺ’s call would be supported and he would find enough solidarity that the Quraish might wake up one day to find their idols being pulled down.

Indeed, Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib RA had converted, and he announced what he had kept secret in his heart for so long.
Again Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib RA picked up his bow, put it on his shoulder, and with steady steps and full strength left the place with everyone looking disappointed and Abu Jahl licking the blood flowing from his wounded head.

Illustration Only: The leader of all matyrs in Islam.

Saiyidina Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib RA possessed a sharp sight and clear consciousness. Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib RA went home, and after he had relaxed from the day's exhaustion he sat down to thinks over what had happened. Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib RA had announced it in a moment of indignation and rage. Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib RA hated to see his nephew getting insulted and suffering injustice with no one to help him. Such racial zeal for the honor of Bani Hashim’s talk had made him hit Abu Jahl on the head and shout declaring his Islam. But was that the ideal way for anyone to change the religion of his parents and ancestors and to embrace a new religion whose teachings he had not yet become familiar with and whose true reality he had not acquired sufficient knowledge of? It was true that Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib RA had never had any doubts about Rasulullah ’s integrity, but could anybody embrace a new religion with all its responsibilities just in a moment of rage as Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib RA had done?

It was true that Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib RA had always kept in his heart a great respect for the new call his nephew was carrying and its banner, but what should the right time have been to embrace this religion if he was destined to embrace it? Should it be a moment of indignation and anger or a moment of deep reflection? Thus Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib RA was inspired by a clear consciousness to reconsider the whole situation in light of strict and meticulous thinking.
Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib RA started thinking. Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib RA spent many restless days and sleepless nights. When one tries to attain the truth by the power of mind, uncertainty will become a means of knowledge, and this is what happened to Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib RA. Once Saiyidina Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib RA used his mind to search Islam and to weigh between the old religion and the new one, he started to have doubts raised by his innate inherited nostalgia for his father's religion and by the natural fear of anything new. All his memories of the Kaabah, the idols, the statues and the high religious status these idols bestowed on the Quraish and Makkah were raised.

It appeared to him that denying all this history and the ancient religion was like a big chasm, which had to be crossed. Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib RA was amazed at how a man could depart from the religion of his father that early and that fast. Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib RA regretted what he had done but he went on with the journey of reasonable thinking. But at that moment, he realized that his mind was not enough and that he should resort sincerely to the unseen power. At the Kaabah Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib RA prayed and supplicated to heaven, seeking help from every light that existed in the universe to be guided to the right path.

Let us hear him narrating his own story:
“I regretted having departed from the religion of my father and kin, and I was in a terrible state of uncertainty and could not sleep. I came to the Kaabah and supplicated to Allah to open my heart to what was right and to eliminate all doubts from it. Allah answered my prayer and filled my heart with faith and certainty. In the morning I went to Rasulullah informing him about myself, and he prayed to Allah that He may keep my heart stable in this religion.
In this way Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib RA converted to Islam, the religion of certainty.

Allah supported Islam with Saiyidina Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib RA’s conversion. Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib RA was strong in defending Rasulullah and the helpless amongst his Companions. When Abu Jahl saw him among the Muslims, he realized that war was inevitably coming. Therefore he began to support the Quraish to ruin Rasulullah and his Companions. He wanted to prepare for a civil war to relieve his heart of anger and bitter feelings.

Saiyidina Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib RA was unable, of course, to prevent all the harm alone, but his conversion was a shield that protected the Muslims, and was the first source of attraction to many tribes to embrace Islam. The second source was Saidina Umar Ibn Al-Khattab's RA conversion, after which people entered Allah's religion in crowds. Since his conversion, Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abdul Muttalib RA devoted all his life and power to Allah and His religion till Rasulullah honored him with the noble title, "The Lion of Allah and of His Messenger".

The brotherhood of blood between Rasulullah with Saidina Hamzah ibn ‘Abdul-Muttalib RA.

Saidina Hamzah ibn ‘Abdul-Muttalib RA (Arabic: حمزة بن عبد المطلب‎‎). Saidina Hamzah ibn ‘Abdul-Muttalib RA was a companion and paternal uncle of Rasulullah ﷺ.

Saidina Hamzah ibn ‘Abdul-Muttalib RA was born about two to four years earlier than Rasulullah and we may wonder of being an uncle of almost the same age. It start of during the youthful age of Abdullah ibn ‘Abdul-Muttalib the father of Rasulullah ﷺ. Abdul Muttalib ibn Hashim ibn Abd Manaf ibn Qussaiy from the Quraish tribe in Makkah is the grandfather of Rasulullah . One day Abdul Muttalib and his son Abdullah (Father of Rasulullah ﷺ) went to the house of Wahab ibn Abdul Manaf to seek the hand of Wahab’s daughter Aminah (Mother of Rasulullah ﷺ).

They both met the parents of Aminah (Rasulullah ’s mother). While they were there discussing their intention seeking of Wahab’s daughter – Aminah, Abdul Muttalib noticed Wahab’s niece, Hala bint Uhayb, and he asked for her hand as well. Wahab agreed, and Rasulullah ﷺ’s father Abdullah and his grandfather Abdul Muttalib were both married on the same day in a double marriage ceremony. Hence Saidina Hamzah Ibn 'Abd Al-Muttalib RA was the younger brother of Muhammad’s father. Thus Hala bint Uhayb is the mother of Saidina Hamzah RA from the younger wife of Abdul Muttalib.



Grave of Hamzah Ibn Abd Mutallib RA in Uhud, Madinah.
Not to forget apart from the natural bloodline of Abdul Muttalib and being the younger brother of Abdullah (father of Rasulullah ) Saidina Hamzah RA was Rasulullah ’s foster-brother: they had both been suckled by the slave Thuwaibah. It was traditionally agreed that Saidina Hamzah RA was four years older than Rasulullah .

Though this is disputed by Ibn Said RA, who argues;
 “Zubayr RA narrated that Saidina Hamzah RA was four years older than Rasulullah . But this does not seem correct, because reliable hadith state that Thuwaibah nursed both Saidina Hamzah RA and Rasulullah .” Ibn Said RA concludes that Saidina Hamzah RA was only two years older than Rasulullah , though he adds the traditional expression of doubt, “Only Allah knows.”

Ibn Hajar writes: “Saidina Hamzah RA was born two to four years before Rasulullah ﷺ.

Just to re-affirmed the early biography of Saidina Hamzah RA ibn Abdul Muttalib, where Saidina Hamzah RA other kunyas were Abu Umara (أَبُو عُمَارَةَ) and Abu Yaala, (أَبُو يَعْلَى). Saidina Hamzah RA had the by-names Lion of God (أسد الله) and the Lion of Paradise (أسد الجنة), and Rasulullah gave him the posthumous title Sayyid-ush-Shuhda or known as “The chief of the Martyrs”. We understand now the blood lineage and the close relationship between Rasulullah and Saidina Hamzah RA. The father of Saidina Hamzah RA was Abdul Muttalib ibn Hashim ibn Abd Manaf ibn Qussaiy from the Quraish tribe in Makkah the well-known tribe with direct blood lineage from Prophet Ismael AS and his father Prophet Abraham Khalilullah AS. Saidina Hamzah RA mother was Hala bint Uhayb from the Zuhra clan of the Quraish.

Saidina Hamzah RA was skilled in wrestling, archery and swordsmanship. Saidina Hamzah RA was fond of hunting, and he is described as “the strongest man of the Quraish, and the most unyielding.” Saidina Hamzah RA married three times and had six children.




Conversion to Islam (Other reliable version)
Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib took little notice of Islam for the first few years. Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib did not respond to Rasulullah ’s first appeal to the Hashim clan in 613.
Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib converted to Islam in late 615 or early 616.Upon returning to Makkah after a hunting trip in the desert. Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib heard that Abu Jahl had “attacked Rasulullah and abused and insulted him, “speaking spitefully of his religion and trying to bring him into disrepute.” Rasulullah ’s had not replied to him. “Filled with rage,” Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib “went out at a run … meaning to punish Abu Jahl when he met him.” Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib entered the Kaabah, where Abu Jahl was sitting with the elders, stood over him and “struck him a violent blow” with his bow. Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib said, “Will you insult him, when I am of his religion and say what he says? Hit me back if you can! Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib “struck Abu Jahl’s head with a blow that cut open his head.” Some of Abu Jahl’s relatives approached to help him, but he told them, “Leave Abu Umara [Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib] alone, for, by God, I insulted his nephew deeply.”
After that incident, Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib entered the House of Al-Arqam and declared Islam. “Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA’s Islam was complete, and he followed Rasulullah ’s commands. When he became a Muslim, the Quraish recognized that Rasulullah had become strong, and had found a protector in Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA, and so they abandoned some of their ways of harassing him.” Instead, they tried to strike bargains with him; but he did not accept their offers.

Closer Image: The grave of Saidina Hamzah ibn Abd Muttalib RA
Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA once asked Rasulullah to show him the Angel Jibril “in his true form.” Rasulullah told Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA that he would not be able to see him. Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA retorted that he would see the angel, so Rasulullah told him to sit where he was. They claimed that Jibril descended before them and that Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA saw that Angel Jibril’s feet were like emeralds before falling down unconscious.

Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA joined the emigration to Madinah in 622 and lodged with Kulthum ibn al-Hidm RA or Saad ibn Khaythama RA. Rasulullah made him the brother in Islam of Zayd ibn Harithah RA.




Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA - “The Lion of Allah”.

Allahu Akbar!!! An undisputed fact Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA is “The Lion of Allah”. If “Simba the King of the Jungle” a well-known epic within the animal kingdom, a legendary beast much admired until today.
Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA - his bravery, dedication, sacrifice and contribution towards strengthening the ‘Deen” in early era of Islam beyond our grasp of thoughts.  This towering figure in Islam is of no equivalents in any form, even among the companions and to any human being of courage until end of time.

The Jihad of Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA

1)    The Encounter of Juhaina
Rasulullah sent Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA on his first encounter against the Kuffar Quraish. Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA led an expedition of thirty riders to the coast in Juhaina territory to intercept a merchant-caravan returning from Syam (Today Syria). Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA met Abu Jahl at the head of the caravan with three hundred riders at the seashore. Majdi ibn Amr al-Juhani intervened between them, “for he was at peace with both parties,” and the two parties separated without any fighting.
There is dispute as to whether Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA or his second cousin Ubaidah ibn al-Harith RA was the first Muslim to whom Rasulullah gave a flag.

2)    Ghazwah el Badr ( Battle of Badr)
Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA and Saidina Ali Ibn Abu Talib RA lead the Muslim armies at Badr.

The first military raid launched by the Muslims against their enemies was under the command of Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA. The first banner that Rasulullah handed to any Muslim was to Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA. In the battle of Badr, when the two conflicting parties met, the Lion of Allah and of His Messenger was there performing great wonders.

Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA fought at the Battle of Badr, where he shared a camel with Zayd ibn Harithah RA and where his distinctive ostrich feather made him highly visible. The Muslims blocked the wells at Badr.

“Al-Aswad ibn Abdal Asad al-Makhzumi, who was a quarrelsome ill-natured man, stepped forth and said, ‘I swear to God that I will drink from their cistern or destroy it or die before reaching it.’ Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA came forth against him, and when the two met, Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA smote him and sent his foot and half his shank flying as he was near the cistern. He fell on his back and lays there, blood streaming from his foot towards his comrades. Then he crawled to the cistern and threw himself into it with the purpose of fulfilling his oath, but Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA followed him and smote him and killed him in the cistern.”
Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA then killed Utbah ibn Rabi'ah in single combat and helped Saidina Ali Ibn Abi Talib RA to kill Utbah’s brother Shaybah. It is disputed whether it was Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA or Saidina Ali Ibn Abi Talib RA who killed Tuwaimah ibn Adiy.
The defeated remnants of the Quraish army went back to Makkah stumbling in disappointment. Abu Sufyaan was brokenhearted with a bowed head as he left on the battlefield the dead bodies of the Quraish martyrs such as Abu Jahl, "Utbah Ibn RabiTah, Shaibah Ibn Rabifah, Umaiyah Ibn Khalaf, 'Uqbah Ibn Abi Mu'ait, Al-Aswad Ibn 'Abdul Al-Asad Al-Makhzumi, Al- Waliid Ibn 'Utbah, Al-Nafr Ibn Al-Haarith, Al-'Aas Ibn Sa'iid, Ta'mah and tens of other great Quraish.
3)    Encounter with Banu Qunaiqa.
Later Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA carried Rasulullah ﷺ’s banner in the expedition against the Banu Qaynuqa.
4)   Battle of Uhud

Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA was killed at the Battle of Uhud on 22 March 625 (3 Shawwal 3 Hijri) when he was 59 (lunar) years old. Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA was standing in front of Rasulullah , fighting with two swords and shouting, “I am Allah’s lion!” While he was fighting in the Battle of Uhud he had a feather of an ostrich in his turban."

Jubayr ibn Mut'im the musyrik bribed his Abyssinian slave Wahshi ibn Harb with a promise of manumission if he killed Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA “in revenge for his uncle death, Tuwayma ibn Adiy.” Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA running back and forth, stumbled and fell on his back; and Wahshi, “who could throw a javelin as the Abyssinians do and seldom missed the mark”.”Threw it into Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA’s abdomen and killed him. Wahshi then slit open his stomach and brought his liver to Hind bint Utbah also a musyrik at that time whose father Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA had killed at Badr.

Hind chewed Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA’s liver then spat it out. “Then she went and mutilated Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA and made anklets, necklaces and pendants from his body and brought them and his liver to Makkah.”

Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA was buried in the same grave as his nephew Abdullah ibn Jahsh RA. Rasulullah later said, “I saw the angels washing Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA because he was in Paradise on that day.” Saidatuna Fatimah used to go to Saidina Hamzah Ibn Abd Muttalib RA’s grave and tend it.