Shurahbil b. Hasana

Shuraḥbīl b. Ḥasana (Arabic: شُرَحْبیل بن حَسَنة) (d. 18/639) was one of the first Companions of the Prophet Muhammad (s). Shurahbil attended the first battles or ghazwas in the early Islam. He is mentioned as a scribe of the Prophet (s); he wrote the Prophet's (s) letter to people of Ayla. In the periods of Abu Bakr b. Abi Quhafa and 'Umar b. al-Khattab, Shurahbil attended many battles and conquests as a commander.

Shurahbil b. Hasana

Masjid and Maqam of Shurahbil b. Hasana in Jordan
Personal Information
Teknonym	Abu 'Abd Allah or Abu 'Abd al-Rahman
Muhajir/Ansar	Muhajir
Place(s) of Residence	Mecca, Abyssinia, Medina, Jordan
Death/Martyrdom	18/639
Cause of Death/Martyrdom	Plague
Religious Information
Presence at ghazwas	Most of ghazwas
Migration to	Abyssinia, Medina

Kunya and Lineage

Shurahbil's kunya was Abu 'Abd Allah or Abu 'Abd al-Rahman or Abu Wa'ila. His father, 'Abd Allah b. Muta' was from the Banu Ghawth b. Murr or the Kinda or the Banu Jumah or the Tamim tribe, and his mother, Hasana, was from the Banu 'Adi, and on other accounts, from the city, 'Adwali, in Bahrain, and was the freed slave of Ma'mar b. Habib al-Jumahi.

According to Ibn Ishaq, Hasana, at first, was the wife of 'Abd Allah b. Muta'. When 'Abd Allah died, Sufyan (Ma'mar b. Habib's stepson and a man from Ansar from the clan of Banu Zurayq b. 'Amir), married Hasana, and they gave birth to two sons, Khalid (or Jabir) and Junada. After that, Sufyan adopted Shurahbil as his stepson. Thus Shurahbil was considered to belong to Banu Jumah, just like his stepfather, Sufyan b. Ma'mar al-Jumahi. However, according to Muhammad b. 'Umar al-Waqidi, Sufyan b. Ma'mar was Shurahbil b. Hasana's maternal brother, and Hasana was the mother of both Sufyan and Shurahbil, rather than Sufyan's wife.

Tribe

According to Ibn Habib al-Baghdadi, Hasana was from the Ash'ariyyun tribe, and al-Mas'udi mentioned Shurahbil b. Hasana as Tabikhi and took him to be from the Khindif tribe (an ally of Quraysh). Al-Baladhuri cited Haytham b. 'Adi as taking Shurahbil from the Himyar tribe. After the death of Sufyan b. Ma'mar and his sons during the caliphate of 'Umar b. al-Khattab, Shurahbil b. Hasana allied with the Banu Zuhra tribe.

An Early Muslim

Shurahbil and his two brothers (Khalid and Junada) were among the first people who embraced Islam. In the second Migration to Abyssinia, Shurahbil b. Hasana migrated there together with Sufyan b. Ma'mar and his mother and brothers, but Musa b. 'Aqaba did not mention Shurahbil and his brothers as migrants to Abyssinia.

In the Period of the Prophet (s)

On one account, in 7/628, Najashi (the king of Abyssinia) sent Umm Habiba, who had married the Prophet (s), to Medina together with Shurahbil. After migration to Medina, Shurahbil stayed with his relatives, Banu Zurayq. In the period of the Prophet (s), Shurahbil attended the battles. He is mentioned as a scribe of the Prophet (s). He transcribed the Prophet's (s) letter to people of Ayla.

In the Period of the First Caliph

Shurahbil b. Hasana attended most of the battles and conquests in the periods of Abu Bakr and 'Umar as the commander. He was appointed by Abu Bakr as a commander in battles of Ridda that happened immediately after the Prophet's (s) demise, including the suppression of Quda'a and 'Umman's apostates, as well as people who claimed prophethood, such as Musaylama al-Kadhdhab in al-Yamama. Immediately after the suppression of apostate people, Abu Bakr prepared himself for a battle with Romans. In this battle, Shurahbil b. Hasana was one of the four commanders under the supervision of Khalid b. al-Walid and then Abu 'Ubayda b. al-Jarrah who were sent to Syria at the command of Abu Bakr. Shurahbil went to Syria together with 7,000 soldiers, and they camped in Jordan, and on some accounts, in Bosra.

In the Period of the Second Caliph

During the caliphate of 'Umar b. al-Khattab, Shurahbil was commissioned by Abu 'Ubayda to aid 'Amr b. al-'As. They conquered the whole Jordan, and they only conquered Tiberias without a war. He also conquered Beit She'an, Susiya, Afiq, Jerash, Capitolias, Qadas, Golan, and on some accounts, Acre, Tyre, and Safuriyya. In the Battle of Marj al-Suffar, Shurahbil greatly exhibited his competence and merits. He then sent Khalid b. al-Walid to Abu Bakr, and Abu Bakr sent him with an army to Syria, instead of al-Walid b. 'Uqba.

In the battles of Yarmuk and Ajnadayn (both of which occurred in 13/634-5), Shurahbil b. Hasana was a commander under Khalid b. al-Walid. On al-Baladhuri's account, in the siege and conquest of Damascus in 14/635-6, Shurahbil b. Hasana and his army went to the Gate of Faradis after Abu 'Ubayda conquered Fihl in peace. On some accounts, the peace treaty was written by Shurahbil. Later 'Umar appointed Shurahbil b. Hasana as the ruler of Jordan. In 17/638-9, when 'Umar b. al-Khattab went to Syria, he dismissed Shurahbil b. Hasana and appointed Mu'awiya b. Abi Sufyan in his place. 'Umar said that he did not dismiss Shurahbil out of dissatisfaction by his services; rather he wanted to appointed a more powerful man for the position.

Death

According to most historians, Shurahbil b. Hasana died in 18/639 because of a plague that was epidemic then in Emmaus in Syria. He lived 67 or 69 years.