Amr ibn Hishām

‘Amr ibn Hishām (Abu Jahl) (died Wednesday, March 17, 624) (Arabic: عمرو بن هشام‎), better known as Abu Jahl, was one of the Meccan pagan Quraysh leaders, known for his hostility against and persecution of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the early Muslims in Mecca.

Biography

Family

He was known as Abū l-Hakam, translated to English as "Father of Wisdom", meaning he was considered a wise man amongst the Quraysh. Abu Jahl was the bitterest opponent against the budding monotheistic religion and thus his belligerent stance earned him the name Abū Jahl أبو جهل, the Father of Ignorance. He was a member of the Banu Makhzum clan of the Quraysh and one of the leaders in Mecca prior to the city's surrender to Muhammad's army. Abu Jahl had a son, Ikrimah ibn Abi-Jahl, who later converted to Islam. He disliked Muhammad and would at any opportunity rebuke and publicly humiliate him.

Islam

‘Amr was among the chieftains that in varying degrees kept a relentless hostility towards the Muslims.

When a Muslim convert was discovered among the hierarchy of a tribe, ‘Amr would reprimand the convert and then ridicule him in front of his fellow tribesmen so that the convert lost their respect.

Traders who converted also suffered at ‘Amr's hands. When he discovered a trader had converted he gave orders that no one should engage in business with him. As a result, the convert trader was unable to sell his wares and became impoverished.^{[citation needed]}

The freemen who suffered most were poor converts who, in the ‘Amr's eyes, were the least important on the social scale. He would beat the converted without mercy and urged others to follow his example.

As for convert slaves belonging to the polytheist Quraysh, they received the harshest punishment. Common punishments included brutal beatings followed by food and water deprivation, but perhaps the most severe punishment was that of being pinned down upon the scorching hot sands of Mecca, left to endure the blistering heat of the sun.

‘Amr beat Harithah bint al-Muammil, one such slave, for her conversion to such an extent that she lost her eyesight.^{[citation needed]} He also came to Sumayyah bint Khayyāṭ (mother of ‘Ammar ibn Yāsir, who later was one of the Sahaba) and inflicted on her mortal wounds by stabbing her with a spear in her genitals. Summayah was the first woman martyr for Islam.

Some of the physically weaker converts were unable to endure their prolonged punishment and recanted. However, their recantations were under compulsion. Those who remained undetected would offer their prayers in secret, but there were many who did not have the privilege of privacy and their grief at not being able to offer their prayers was considerable.

Battle of Badr

Prior to the Battle of Badr, Sa'd ibn Mua'dh had visited Mecca once to perform his Umrah with his non-Muslim friend Umayyah ibn Khalaf, when they came across ’Amr. They had an argument, and as it became heated, Sa’d threatened him with stopping the Meccan trade route to Syria and ’Amr informed Umayyah that his life was threatened by Muhammad.

’Amr was fatally wounded in the Battle of Badr by Muawwaz ibn Amr and Muaaz ibn Amr, and was finally killed by Abdullah ibn Mas'ud.^{[citation needed]}