Abu Jahl: Difference between revisions

'''ʿAmr b. Hishām b. Mughīra l-Makhzūmī''' (Arabic: {{ia|عمرو بن هشام بن مغيرة المخزومي}}), known as '''Abu Jahl''' (Arabic: {{ia|أبو جَهل}}), (d. [[2]]/624), was an antagonist of the [[Prophet]] (s) and [[Islam]] in [[Mecca]]. His attempts against Islam and [[Muslims]] included plotting the Prophet’s murder, imposing tortures against those who converted to Islam, preventing [[Quranic verses]] from being heard by people, insulting the Prophet (s), trying to cut the relation between the [[Quraysh]] and [[Banu Hashim]], and preparing the ground for the [[Battle of Badr]]. Quranic exegetes have talked about him under about thirty verses of the [[Quran]].

Abu Jahl played a crucial role in the initiation of the Battle of Badr. He was killed in this battle as part of the polytheist army.

==Lineage, Kunya, and Title==

'Amr b. Hisham b. Mughira was an antagonist and enemy of the Prophet (s).<ref>Ibn Isḥāq, ''Al-Sīyar wa al-maghāzī'', p. 145</ref> His father, Hisham b. Mughira was from the Banu Makhzum clan, whose death was the origin of the Quraysh calendar.<ref>Ibn Ḥabīb Baghdādī, ''Al-Muḥabbar'', p. 139.</ref> His mother, Asma' bt. Mukhriba b. al-Jandal al-Hanzali from Banu Tamim.<ref>Ibn Hishām, ''Al-Sīrat al-Nabī'', vol. 1, p. 623.</ref> For this reason, he is also called Ibn Hanzaliyya.<ref>Balādhurī, ''Ansāb al-ashrāf'', vol.1, p. 291.</ref>

Abu Jahl’s kunya was Abu l-Hakam, but the Prophet (s) called him "Abu Jahl"<ref>Balādhurī, ''Ansāb al-ashrāf'', vol.1, p. 125.</ref> (literally: father of ignorance) because of his ignorance and hostility toward Islam.<ref>Ibn Durayd, ''Kitāb al-ishtiqāq'', p. 148.</ref> Moreover, there is a hadith from the Prophet (s) to the effect that Abu Jahl was the pharaoh of the Islamic nation.<ref>Ibn Isḥāq, ''Al-Sīyar wa al-maghāzī'', p. 210.</ref>

[['Ikrima b. Abi Jahl]] was his son, who also showed hostility toward the Prophet (s), but after the [[Conquest of Mecca]], he converted to Islam.<ref>Ibn al-Jawzī, ''Al-Muntaẓam'', vol. 4, p. 155-156.</ref>

Abu Jahl was hostile toward the [[Prophet]] (s) and blasphemed<ref>Ibn Hishām, ''Al-Sīrat al-Nabī'', vol. 1, p. 98 and 299.</ref> and insulted him in one way or another.<ref>Ibn Hishām, ''Al-Sīrat al-Nabī'', vol. 1, p. 291.</ref> Moreover, Abu Jahl and his hostilities toward [[Islam]] and the Prophet (s) are said to be occasions of the [[revelation]] of certain [[Quranic verses]].<ref>Wāḥidī, ''Asbāb al-nuzūl al-Qurʾān'', p. 487; Ṭabarī, ''Jāmiʿ al-bayān'', vol. 22, p. 99.</ref> In the Encyclopedia of the Quran, 32 Quranic verses are mentioned, which exegetes believe are about him.<ref>''ʾaʿlām-i Qurʾān'', vol. 1, p. 381-391.</ref> He made efforts to prevent the spread of Islam, including:

In his exegesis of the verse, "The faithless say, 'Do not listen to this Quran and hoot it down so that you may prevail [over the Apostle],'"<ref>وَقَالَ الَّذِینَ کفَرُ‌وا لَا تَسْمَعُوا لِهَٰذَا الْقُرْ‌آنِ وَالْغَوْا فِیهِ لَعَلَّکمْ تَغْلِبُونَ</ref> Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Qurtubi quotes [[Ibn 'Abbas]] as saying that whenever the Prophet (s) recited the Quran, Abu Jahl asked people to shout so that the Prophet (s) could not be heard.<ref>Qurṭubī, ''Tafsīr al-Qurtubī'', vol. 15, p. 356.</ref>

According to 'Abd al-Malik b. Hisham, polytheists of Mecca gathered in [[Dar al-Nadwa]] to decide about how to deal with the Prophet (s). Everyone made their suggestion. Abu Jahl suggested that the Prophet (s) be killed, but all tribes had to collaborate in his murder so that [[Banu Hashim]] could not fight all tribes and would rest content with his blood money. His suggestion was accepted. In [[Laylat al-Mabit]], a person from each tribe participated to actualize the plot. Abu Jahl was among them and encouraged others, but the machination was frustrated since the Prophet (s) had left his house and [[Imam 'Ali]] (a) slept in his bed.<ref>Ibn Hishām, Al-Sīrat al-Nabī, vol. 1, p. 482-483.</ref> Abu Jahl had become a member of Dar al-Nudwa at the age of thirty, whereas members of Dar al-Nudwa, except for Banu Qusayy, were required to be at least forty years old.<ref>Ibn Durayd, ''al-ishtiqāq'', p. 155.</ref>

Abu Jahl prevented people from conversion to [[Islam]].<ref>Ibn Hishām, Al-Sīrat al-Nabī, vol. 1, p. 320.</ref> When someone converted to Islam, he threatened or tortured him until he gave up on Islam.<ref>Ibn Hishām, Al-Sīrat al-Nabī, vol. 1, p. 320.</ref> [[Bilal b. Rabah]]<ref>Ibn Athīr, ''Usd al-ghāba'', vol. 1, p. 263.</ref>, [[Yasir b. 'Amir]], and [[Sumayya bt. Khabbat]], among others, were tortured by him because they had embraced Islam and supported the Prophet (s). Sumayya was [[Martyrdom|martyred]] under his tortures.<ref>Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, ''Al-Istīʿāb'', vol. 4, p. 1865.</ref> Moreover, he returned his maternal brother 'Ayyash b. Abu Rabiʿa, who had departed toward Medina to join [[Emigrants|Muslim migrants]], from [[Quba]] to [[Mecca]], where he imprisoned him.<ref>Ibn Saʿd, ''Al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā'', vol. 4, p. 96.</ref> According to historical accounts, Abu Jahl had various plots in dealing with newly converted Muslims. If the convert had a social position, he humiliated and insulted him; if he was a merchant, he threatened to boycott his business and destroy his capital, and if he was impoverished, he tortured and persecuted him.<ref>Ibn Hishām, Al-Sīrat al-Nabī, vol. 1, p. 279.</ref>

Furthermore, Abu Jahl tried to cut the relationship between the Quraysh and Banu Hashim.<ref>Ibn Hishām, Al-Sīrat al-Nabī, vol. 1, p. 353-354.</ref> He prevented provisions from being supplied to Banu Hashim in the [[Valley of Abu Talib]].<ref>Ibn Isḥāq, ''Al-Sīyar wa al-maghāzī'', p. 161</ref>

According to historical sources, Abu Jahl played a crucial role in the initiation of the Battle of Badr. Before the outbreak of this war, the [[Prophet]] (s) cursed him and Zama'a b. al-Aswad for their insistence on the war.<ref>Wāqidī, ''Al-Maghāzī'', vol. 1, p. 46.</ref> In 2/624, a caravan from the [[Quraysh]], headed by [[Abu Sufyan]], was threatened by [[Muslims]]. He asked the Quraysh for help, and then Abu Jahl left [[Mecca]] along with an army to support him. Although the caravan could go on its path, Abu Jahl insisted that the army of Mecca had to move toward the wells of [[Badr]],<ref>Wāqidī,''Al-Maghāzī'', vol. 1, p. 37.</ref> where the Battle of Badr occurred between them and the Muslim army. The Meccan army was defeated by Muslims, and Abu Jahl, along with a number of senior figures of the Quraysh were killed.<ref>Wāqidī, ''Al-Maghāzī'', vol. 1, p. 89-91.</ref> Abu Jahl was killed in the hands of Ma'adh b. 'Amr and the sons of 'Afra'. He was beheaded by [['Abd Allah b. Mas'ud]].<ref>Wāqidī, ''Al-Maghāzī'', vol. 1, p. 91.</ref>

* Ibn Ḥabīb, Muḥammad b. Ḥabīb b. Umayya. Kitāb al-muḥabbar. Edited by elza lichten stetter. Beirut: Dār al-Āfāq al-Jadīda, [n.d].

* Ibn al-Jawzī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿAlī. ''Al-Muntaẓam fī tārīkh al-umam wa l-mulūk''. Edited by Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Qādir ʿAṭāʾ. Beirut: [n.p], 1412 AH.

* Ibn Saʿd, Muḥammad b. Manīʿ al-Ḥāshimī al-Baṣrī. ''Al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā''. Edited by Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Qādir ʿAṭā. Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya,1410AH-1990.

* Markaz-i farhang wa maʿārif-i Qurʾān. ''ʾaʿlām-i Qurʾān az dāʾirat al-maʿārif-i Qurʾān-i karīm''. Qom: Būstān-i Kitāb, 1385 Sh.

* Wāqidī, Muḥammad b. ʿUmar al-. ''Al-Maghāzī''. Edited by Marsden Jones. Beirut: 3rd edition. 1409/1989.