For the son of companion and first cousin of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, see Abu Sufyan ibn al-Harith.
Sakhr ibn Harb ibn Umayya ibn Abd Shams (Arabic: صخر إبن حرب إبن أمية إبن عبد شمس, romanized: Ṣakhr ibn Ḥarb ibn Umayya ibn ʿAbd Shams; c. 567—653), better known by his kunyaAbu Sufyan (Arabic: أبو سفيان, romanized: Abū Sufyān), was a prominent opponent turned companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He was the father of the first Umayyad caliph Mu'awiya I and namesake of the Sufyanid line of Umayyad caliphs which ruled from 661 to 684. One of his daughters, Ramla, was married to Muhammad, but this occurred before Abu Sufyan's own conversion and without his consent.
Abu Sufyan was a leader and merchant from the Quraysh tribe of Mecca. During his early career, he often led trade caravans to Syria. He had been among the main leaders of Meccan opposition to Muhammad, the prophet of Islam and member of the Quraysh, commanding the Meccans at the battles of Uhud and the Trench in 625 and 627 CE. However, when Muhammad entered Mecca in 630, he was among the first to submit and was given a stake in the nascent Muslim state, playing a role at the Battle of Hunayn and the subsequent destruction of the polytheistic sanctuary of al-Lat in Ta'if. After Muhammad's death, he may have been appointed as the governor of Najran by Caliph Abu Bakr (r. 632–634) for an unspecified period. Abu Sufyan later played a supporting role in the Muslim army at the Battle of Yarmouk against the Byzantines in Syria. His sons Yazid and later Mu'awiya were given command roles in that province and the latter went on to establish the Umayyad Caliphate in 661.
Abu Sufyan's given name was Sakhr and he was born around c. 567 to his father Harb ibn Umayya, a leader of the Quraysh tribe of Mecca,[1] and mother Safiyya bint Hazn ibn Bujayr.[citation needed] The family belonged to the Banu Abd Shams clan of the Quraysh,[1] the brother clan of the Banu Hashim, to which the Islamic prophet Muhammad belonged. Abu Sufyan was among the leaders of the Qurayshi opposition to Muhammad in the years preceding the Hijrah (emigration of Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina in 622). A prominent financier and merchant, Abu Sufyan engaged in trade in Syria, often heading Meccan caravans to the region.[1] He owned land in the vicinity of Damascus.[2][3]
Opposition to Islam
In 624, a caravan Abu Sufyan was leading back to Mecca from Syria faced an assault by Muhammad, prompting him to send for aid.[1] In response, a 1,000-strong Meccan army led by Abu Jahl was dispatched.[1] In the ensuing confrontation, Abu Sufyan, "by skillful and vigorous leadership eluded the Muslims", according to the historian W. Montgomery Watt.[1] However, under Abu Jahl's command, the Meccans pursued a direct confrontation with the Muslims, which resulted in the rout of the Quraysh at the Battle of Badr. One of Abu Sufyan's sons, Hanzala, was killed at Badr and another son, Amr, was taken captive, but released.[1] Among the other Meccan casualties were Abu Jahl himself and Utbah ibn Rabi'ah, who was one of Abu Sufyan's fathers-in-law. In the aftermath of Badr, Abu Sufyan was charged with avenging Meccan losses, the command he held likely being hereditary. Subsequently, Abu Sufyan inflicted significant losses on the Muslims at the Battle of Uhud in 625, but the Quraysh were generally unsatisfied with the battle's results.[1] Two years later, he led the attempted siege of Medina, but was defeated by the Muslim defenders at the Battle of the Trench, and his morale may have taken a blow at this failure.[1] The command of the Meccan forces were transferred to his Qurayshi rivals, Safwan ibn Umayya, Ikrima ibn Abi Jahl and Suhayl ibn Amr.[1]
Conversion to Islam
Though Abu Sufyan did not participate in the truce negotiations at Hudaybiyya in 628, he held peace talks with Muhammad in Medina when allies of the Quraysh apparently broke the truce.[1] Information about the results of these talks is unclear, but Watt surmises that Abu Sufyan and Muhammad entered into an understanding of sorts.[1] When Muhammad conquered Mecca in 630, Abu Sufyan played a key role in the city's surrender, being among the first Qurayshi leaders to submit and guaranteeing protection for his partisans.[1] He fought alongside the Muslims at the Battle of Hunayn against the Banu Thaqif of Ta'if, traditional rivals of Mecca, and the latter's tribal backers from the Hawazin confederation.[1] During this battle, which ended in a decisive Muslim victory, he lost an eye, and was rewarded a relatively high percentage of the spoils to reconcile his heart.[4][5][6] Because of his past trade relations with Ta'if, where he also owned property and had kinsmen, Abu Sufyan played a leading role in the dismantlement of the pagan sanctuary of al-Lat in the city.[1]
Later life and death
Abu Sufyan was appointed the governor of Najran, in southern Arabia, either by Muhammad or more likely, by the first caliph, Abu Bakr (r. 632–634).[1] He initially opposed the latter's succession of Muhammad as leader of the nascent Muslim state.[1] Abu Sufyan, seeing no hope that a member of the Banu Abd Shams could attain the role, aimed to keep the leadership in the hands of his next closest kinsmen, the Banu Hashim, specifically Ali ibn Abi Talib, a cousin, son-in-law and early supporter of Muhammad.[7] According to the historian Wilferd Madelung, Abu Sufyan, by dint of his chieftainship of the Banu Abd Shams and the generosity he had received from Muhammad, was duty-bound by a tribal code of honor to offer Ali such support, as doing otherwise "would have been shameful".[7] Ali, however, refused his support, citing Abu Sufyan's late conversion to Islam and the potential backlash from the Muslim community should he accept his backing.[8] Western historians generally dismiss this episode as propaganda by the Muslim traditional sources, which were hostile to the Umayyads,[9] the branch of the Banu Abd Shams to which Abu Sufyan belonged and which ultimately became the ruling family of the Caliphate in 661 until 750.
Abu Bakr ordered the Muslim conquest of the Levant, in which he gave the Banu Abd Shams a stake, despite their early opposition to him, which he sought to allay.[2] Abu Sufyan's son Yazid was ultimately appointed to a leading command role in the conquest. Abu Sufyan was present at the Battle of Yarmouk, which resulted in a decisive Muslim victory against the Byzantines in Syria. His advanced age at the time renders it unlikely that he actively participated in the battle.[1] According to an account cited by Sayf ibn Umar, he observed the battle alongside unspecified Arab sheikhs (chieftains), and accounts cited by al-Tabari further note that he "exhorted" the Muslim troops.[10] His son Yazid held a command role in the battle and later died in a plague in Palestine in 639.[1] Another of his sons, Mu'awiya, was appointed the governor of Syria by Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab (r. 634–644). Umar's successor, Uthman ibn Affan (r. 644–656), shared descent with Abu Sufyan from Umayya ibn Abd Shams and was known to show special favor to his kinsmen. To that end, he symbolically honored Abu Sufyan, along with al-Hakam ibn Abi al-As and al-Walid ibn Uqba of the Umayyad line of the Banu Abd Shams, and al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib of the Banu Hashim, by allowing them to sit on his throne in Medina.[11] Abu Sufyan died in 653 at the age of 88.[1]
Family
Family tree of the Sufyanid ruling family of the Umayyad Caliphate. The Sufyanids were the descendants of Abu Sufyan
Utba. He is said to have been born "in the time of the Prophet," i.e., after 610.[15] He had a son named al-Walīd.
Juwayriya. Her first husband was al-Sayib ibn Abi Hubaysh. Her second husband was Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Harith.[12]: 169
Umm Hakam. She married Abd Allah ibn Uthman al-Thaqafi, by whom she had one son, Abd al-Rahman.[12][16]
Safiya bint Abi Amr ibn Umayya.
Amr (taken captive in the Battle of Badr and later released).[14]: 313
Hind. She married al-Harith ibn Nawfal, by whom she had six children: Abd Allah, Muhammad al-Akbar, Rabi'a, Abd al-Rahman, Ramla and Umm al-Zubayr.[12]: 169
Sakhra. She married Sayyid ibn al-Akhnas and is said to have had children by him.[12]: 169
^Rizwi Faizer, ed., The Life of Muhammad: Al-Waqidi’s Kitab al-Maghazi (Abingdon: Routledge, 2011), p. 463.
^A. Guillaume, trans., The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1955), p. 594. (The section is titled “Division of the Spoils of Hawazin and Gifts to Gain Men’s Hearts”).
^Ismail K. Poonawala, trans., The History of Al-Tabari: Volume IX: The Last Years of the Prophet (State University of New York, 1990), p. 31: The Messenger of God gave [gifts] to those "whose hearts were to be reconciled [al-muu'allafa qulubuhum]", who were certain men of eminence, in order to conciliate them and to win over their hearts. He gave a hundred camels each to the following: Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, his son Mu'awiyah ..."
^"Hadith - Book of Divorce - Sahih al-Bukhari - Sunnah.com - Sayings and Teachings of Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم)". sunnah.com. Retrieved 2020-11-25.
^ abMuhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari. Tarikh al-Rusul wa'l-Muluk. Translated by Morony, M. G. (1987). Volume 18: Between Civil Wars: The Caliphate of Mu'awiyah. Albany: State University of New York Press.
sufyan, harb, companion, first, cousin, islamic, prophet, muhammad, sufyan, harith, sakhr, harb, umayya, shams, arabic, صخر, إبن, حرب, إبن, أمية, إبن, عبد, شمس, romanized, Ṣakhr, Ḥarb, umayya, ʿabd, shams, better, known, kunya, sufyan, arabic, أبو, سفيان, roma. For the son of companion and first cousin of the Islamic prophet Muhammad see Abu Sufyan ibn al Harith Sakhr ibn Harb ibn Umayya ibn Abd Shams Arabic صخر إبن حرب إبن أمية إبن عبد شمس romanized Ṣakhr ibn Ḥarb ibn Umayya ibn ʿAbd Shams c 567 653 better known by his kunya Abu Sufyan Arabic أبو سفيان romanized Abu Sufyan was a prominent opponent turned companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad He was the father of the first Umayyad caliph Mu awiya I and namesake of the Sufyanid line of Umayyad caliphs which ruled from 661 to 684 One of his daughters Ramla was married to Muhammad but this occurred before Abu Sufyan s own conversion and without his consent Abu Sufyan ibn Harbأبو سفيان إبن حربBornSakhr ibn Harb ibn Umayyac 567 CE Mecca Hijaz Arabia present day KSA Diedc 653 653 00 00 aged 85 86 Medina Hijaz Rashidun Caliphate present day KSA Resting placeAl Baqi Cemetery MedinaOccupationMajor leader of the Quraysh tribeEra624 630SpousesHind bint UtbaSafiyyah bint Abi al AsZaynab bint Nawfal among others ChildrenSons HanzalaYazidMu awiya IAmrUtbaAnbasaMuhammadDaughters Umm HabibaJuwayriyyaMaymunaParentHarb ibn Umayya father RelativesMuhammad son in law Military careerBattles warsAgainst muslimsBattle of Uhud 625 Battle of the Trench 627 For muslimsBattle of Hunayn 630 Battle of Yarmouk 636 Abu Sufyan was a leader and merchant from the Quraysh tribe of Mecca During his early career he often led trade caravans to Syria He had been among the main leaders of Meccan opposition to Muhammad the prophet of Islam and member of the Quraysh commanding the Meccans at the battles of Uhud and the Trench in 625 and 627 CE However when Muhammad entered Mecca in 630 he was among the first to submit and was given a stake in the nascent Muslim state playing a role at the Battle of Hunayn and the subsequent destruction of the polytheistic sanctuary of al Lat in Ta if After Muhammad s death he may have been appointed as the governor of Najran by Caliph Abu Bakr r 632 634 for an unspecified period Abu Sufyan later played a supporting role in the Muslim army at the Battle of Yarmouk against the Byzantines in Syria His sons Yazid and later Mu awiya were given command roles in that province and the latter went on to establish the Umayyad Caliphate in 661 Contents 1 Life 1 1 Early life 1 2 Opposition to Islam 1 3 Conversion to Islam 2 Later life and death 3 Family 3 1 Wives and children 4 See also 5 References 6 BibliographyLife EditEarly life Edit Abu Sufyan s given name was Sakhr and he was born around c 567 to his father Harb ibn Umayya a leader of the Quraysh tribe of Mecca 1 and mother Safiyya bint Hazn ibn Bujayr citation needed The family belonged to the Banu Abd Shams clan of the Quraysh 1 the brother clan of the Banu Hashim to which the Islamic prophet Muhammad belonged Abu Sufyan was among the leaders of the Qurayshi opposition to Muhammad in the years preceding the Hijrah emigration of Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina in 622 A prominent financier and merchant Abu Sufyan engaged in trade in Syria often heading Meccan caravans to the region 1 He owned land in the vicinity of Damascus 2 3 Opposition to Islam Edit In 624 a caravan Abu Sufyan was leading back to Mecca from Syria faced an assault by Muhammad prompting him to send for aid 1 In response a 1 000 strong Meccan army led by Abu Jahl was dispatched 1 In the ensuing confrontation Abu Sufyan by skillful and vigorous leadership eluded the Muslims according to the historian W Montgomery Watt 1 However under Abu Jahl s command the Meccans pursued a direct confrontation with the Muslims which resulted in the rout of the Quraysh at the Battle of Badr One of Abu Sufyan s sons Hanzala was killed at Badr and another son Amr was taken captive but released 1 Among the other Meccan casualties were Abu Jahl himself and Utbah ibn Rabi ah who was one of Abu Sufyan s fathers in law In the aftermath of Badr Abu Sufyan was charged with avenging Meccan losses the command he held likely being hereditary Subsequently Abu Sufyan inflicted significant losses on the Muslims at the Battle of Uhud in 625 but the Quraysh were generally unsatisfied with the battle s results 1 Two years later he led the attempted siege of Medina but was defeated by the Muslim defenders at the Battle of the Trench and his morale may have taken a blow at this failure 1 The command of the Meccan forces were transferred to his Qurayshi rivals Safwan ibn Umayya Ikrima ibn Abi Jahl and Suhayl ibn Amr 1 Conversion to Islam Edit Though Abu Sufyan did not participate in the truce negotiations at Hudaybiyya in 628 he held peace talks with Muhammad in Medina when allies of the Quraysh apparently broke the truce 1 Information about the results of these talks is unclear but Watt surmises that Abu Sufyan and Muhammad entered into an understanding of sorts 1 When Muhammad conquered Mecca in 630 Abu Sufyan played a key role in the city s surrender being among the first Qurayshi leaders to submit and guaranteeing protection for his partisans 1 He fought alongside the Muslims at the Battle of Hunayn against the Banu Thaqif of Ta if traditional rivals of Mecca and the latter s tribal backers from the Hawazin confederation 1 During this battle which ended in a decisive Muslim victory he lost an eye and was rewarded a relatively high percentage of the spoils to reconcile his heart 4 5 6 Because of his past trade relations with Ta if where he also owned property and had kinsmen Abu Sufyan played a leading role in the dismantlement of the pagan sanctuary of al Lat in the city 1 Later life and death EditAbu Sufyan was appointed the governor of Najran in southern Arabia either by Muhammad or more likely by the first caliph Abu Bakr r 632 634 1 He initially opposed the latter s succession of Muhammad as leader of the nascent Muslim state 1 Abu Sufyan seeing no hope that a member of the Banu Abd Shams could attain the role aimed to keep the leadership in the hands of his next closest kinsmen the Banu Hashim specifically Ali ibn Abi Talib a cousin son in law and early supporter of Muhammad 7 According to the historian Wilferd Madelung Abu Sufyan by dint of his chieftainship of the Banu Abd Shams and the generosity he had received from Muhammad was duty bound by a tribal code of honor to offer Ali such support as doing otherwise would have been shameful 7 Ali however refused his support citing Abu Sufyan s late conversion to Islam and the potential backlash from the Muslim community should he accept his backing 8 Western historians generally dismiss this episode as propaganda by the Muslim traditional sources which were hostile to the Umayyads 9 the branch of the Banu Abd Shams to which Abu Sufyan belonged and which ultimately became the ruling family of the Caliphate in 661 until 750 Abu Bakr ordered the Muslim conquest of the Levant in which he gave the Banu Abd Shams a stake despite their early opposition to him which he sought to allay 2 Abu Sufyan s son Yazid was ultimately appointed to a leading command role in the conquest Abu Sufyan was present at the Battle of Yarmouk which resulted in a decisive Muslim victory against the Byzantines in Syria His advanced age at the time renders it unlikely that he actively participated in the battle 1 According to an account cited by Sayf ibn Umar he observed the battle alongside unspecified Arab sheikhs chieftains and accounts cited by al Tabari further note that he exhorted the Muslim troops 10 His son Yazid held a command role in the battle and later died in a plague in Palestine in 639 1 Another of his sons Mu awiya was appointed the governor of Syria by Caliph Umar ibn al Khattab r 634 644 Umar s successor Uthman ibn Affan r 644 656 shared descent with Abu Sufyan from Umayya ibn Abd Shams and was known to show special favor to his kinsmen To that end he symbolically honored Abu Sufyan along with al Hakam ibn Abi al As and al Walid ibn Uqba of the Umayyad line of the Banu Abd Shams and al Abbas ibn Abd al Muttalib of the Banu Hashim by allowing them to sit on his throne in Medina 11 Abu Sufyan died in 653 at the age of 88 1 Family Edit Family tree of the Sufyanid ruling family of the Umayyad Caliphate The Sufyanids were the descendants of Abu Sufyan Wives and children Edit Ṣafiya bint Abi al As Ramla Umm Ḥabiba She first married Ubayd Allah ibn Jahsh by whom she had one daughter Ḥabiba bint Ubayd Allah After Ubayd Allah s death she married Muhammad Umayma She first married Huwaytib ibn Abd al Uzza by whom she had one son called Abu Sufyan 12 169 Zaynab bint Nawfal of the Kinana 13 Yazid Hind bint Utba Hanzala killed in the Battle of Badr Hind refers to Hanzala as her firstborn 14 313 337 385 Mu awiya I Utba He is said to have been born in the time of the Prophet i e after 610 15 He had a son named al Walid Juwayriya Her first husband was al Sayib ibn Abi Hubaysh Her second husband was Abd al Rahman ibn al Harith 12 169 Umm Hakam She married Abd Allah ibn Uthman al Thaqafi by whom she had one son Abd al Rahman 12 16 Safiya bint Abi Amr ibn Umayya Amr taken captive in the Battle of Badr and later released 14 313 Hind She married al Harith ibn Nawfal by whom she had six children Abd Allah Muhammad al Akbar Rabi a Abd al Rahman Ramla and Umm al Zubayr 12 169 Sakhra She married Sayyid ibn al Akhnas and is said to have had children by him 12 169 Lubaba bint Abi al As Maymuna Amina She married Abi Murrah bin Urwa bin Mas ud al Thaqafi and bore him a son Dawud 14 589 and a daughter Layla who married al Husayn bin Ali and bore al Husayn his eldest son Ali al Akbar who was martyred in Karbala Maymuna s second husband was al Mughira ibn Shu ba 12 169 Atiqa bint Abi Udhayhir 14 189 of the Daws tribe 17 220 Anbasa 17 220 Other children Ḥarith 18 Al Faraa 14 214 Azzah 19 See also EditSahabah List of expeditions of MuhammadReferences Edit a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Watt 1960 p 151 a b Madelung 1997 p 45 Donner 1981 p 96 Rizwi Faizer ed The Life of Muhammad Al Waqidi s Kitab al Maghazi Abingdon Routledge 2011 p 463 A Guillaume trans The Life of Muhammad A Translation of Ibn Ishaq s Sirat Rasul Allah Oxford and New York Oxford University Press 1955 p 594 The section is titled Division of the Spoils of Hawazin and Gifts to Gain Men s Hearts Ismail K Poonawala trans The History of Al Tabari Volume IX The Last Years of the Prophet State University of New York 1990 p 31 The Messenger of God gave gifts to those whose hearts were to be reconciled al muu allafa qulubuhum who were certain men of eminence in order to conciliate them and to win over their hearts He gave a hundred camels each to the following Abu Sufyan ibn Harb his son Mu awiyah a b Madelung 1997 p 40 Madelung 1997 pp 40 41 Madelung 1997 p 41 Donner 1981 p 362 Madelung 1997 p 109 a b c d e f Muhammad ibn Saad Kitab al Tabaqat al Kabir vol 8 Translated by Bewley A 1995 The Women of Madina London Ta Ha Publishers Ibn Hajar Al Isaba vol 6 p 658 9271 a b c d e Muhammad ibn Ishaq Sirat Rasul Allah Translated by Guillaume A 1955 The Life of Muhammad Oxford Oxford University Press Ibn Hajar Al Isaba vol 5 p 60 6248 Hadith Book of Divorce Sahih al Bukhari Sunnah com Sayings and Teachings of Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه و سلم sunnah com Retrieved 2020 11 25 a b Muhammad ibn Jarir al Tabari Tarikh al Rusul wa l Muluk Translated by Morony M G 1987 Volume 18 Between Civil Wars The Caliphate of Mu awiyah Albany State University of New York Press Nasa i vol 2 1814 Muslim 8 3413 Bibliography EditDonner Fred M 1981 The Early Islamic Conquests Princeton Princeton University Press ISBN 9781400847877 Madelung Wilferd 1997 The Succession to Muhammad A Study of the Early Caliphate Cambridge Cambridge University Press ISBN 0 521 56181 7 Watt W Montgomery 1960 Abu Sufyan In Gibb H A R Kramers J H Levi Provencal E Schacht J Lewis B amp Pellat Ch eds The Encyclopaedia of Islam Second Edition Volume I A B Leiden E J Brill p 151 OCLC 495469456 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Abu Sufyan ibn Harb amp oldid 1150262114, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
