Abu Sufyan أَبُو سُفْيَانُ | |
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 Abu Sufyan and other Quraysh leaders discussing thesecond pledge at al-Aqabah being watched over byIblis and spied on byAbu ʿĀmir al-Rāhib | |
| Born | Sakhr ibn Harb ibn Umayya c. 560 CE |
| Died | c. 653(653-00-00) (aged 92–93) |
| Resting place | Al-Baqi Cemetery |
| Era | 624–630 |
| Title | Leader of theQuraysh tribe |
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| Father | Harb ibn Umayya |
| Family | Banu Umayya |
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| Arabic name | |
| Personal (Ism) | Sakhr صَخْرِ |
| Patronymic (Nasab) | ibn Harb ibn Umayya ibn ʿAbd Shams ibn ʿAbd Manaf ibn Qusayy ibn Kilab ibn Murrah ibn Ka'b ibn Lu'ayy ibn Ghalib ibn Fihr ibn Malik بن حرب بن أمية بن عبد شمس بن عبد مناف بن قصي بن كلاب بن مرة بن كعب بن لؤي بن غالب بن فهر بن مالك |
| Teknonymic (Kunya) | Abu Sufyan أَبُو سُفْيَانُ |
| Toponymic (Nisba) | al-Umawi الأموي al-Abshami العبشميّ al-Qurashi القرشي al-Makki المكي al-Hijazi الحجازي |
Sakhr ibn Harb ibn Umayya (Arabic:صَخْرِ ٱبْن حَرْب ٱبْن أُمَيَّةَ,romanized: Ṣakhr ibn Ḥarb ibn Umayya;c. 560—653), commonly known by hiskunyaAbu Sufyan (Arabic:أَبُو سُفْيَانُ,romanized: Abū Sufyān), was a prominent opponent-turnedcompanion and father-in-law of theIslamic prophetMuhammad. He was the father of the firstUmayyad caliphMu'awiya I (r. 661–680) and namesake of the Sufyanid line of Umayyad caliphs which ruled from 661 to 684.
Abu Sufyan was a leader and merchant from theQuraysh tribe ofMecca. During his early career, he often led trade caravans toSyria. He had been among the main leaders of Meccan opposition to Muhammad, theprophet of Islam, commanding the Meccans at the battles of theUhud andTrench in 625 and 627CE. However, when Muhammadentered Mecca in 630, he was among the first to submit and was given a stake in the nascent Muslim state, playing a role at theBattle of Hunayn and the subsequent destruction of the polytheistic sanctuary ofal-Lat inTa'if. After Muhammad's death, he may have been appointed as the governor ofNajran by CaliphAbu Bakr (r. 632–634) for an unspecified period. Abu Sufyan later played a supporting role in the Muslim army at theBattle of the Yarmuk against theByzantines in Syria. His sonsYazid 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 aroundc. 560 toHarb ibn Umayya, a leader of theQuraysh tribe of Mecca,[1] and Safiyya bint Hazn ibn Bujayr.[citation needed] The family belonged to theBanu Abd Shams clan of the Quraysh,[1] the brother clan of theBanu Hashim, to which theIslamic prophetMuhammad belonged. Abu Sufyan was among the leaders of the Qurayshi opposition to Muhammad in the years preceding theHijrah (emigration of Muhammad and his followers from Mecca toMedina in 622). A prominent financier and merchant, Abu Sufyan engaged in trade inSyria, often heading Meccan caravans to the region.[1] He owned land in the vicinity ofDamascus.[2][3]
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 byAbu Jahl ibn Hisham was dispatched.[1] In the ensuing confrontation, Abu Sufyan, "by skillful and vigorous leadership eluded the Muslims", according to the historianW. 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 theBattle 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 andUtba ibn Rabi'a, 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 theBattle 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 theBattle 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 Amr andSuhayl ibn Amr.[1]
Though Abu Sufyan did not participate in the trucenegotiations at al-Hudaybiya 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 Muhammadconquered 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 theBattle of Hunayn against theBanu Thaqif ofTa'if, traditional rivals of Mecca, and the latter's tribal backers from theHawazin 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] 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 ofal-Lat in the city.[1]
Abu Sufyan was appointed the governor ofNajran, in southern Arabia, either by Muhammad or 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, specificallyAli ibn Abi Talib, a cousin, son-in-law and early supporter of Muhammad.[6] According to the historianWilferd 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".[6] 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.[7] Sunni historians generally dismiss this episode as propaganda by the Shia traditional sources, which were hostile to theUmayyads,[8] the branch of the Banu Abd Shams to which Abu Sufyan belonged and which ultimately became the ruling family of theCaliphate in 661 until 750.
Abu Bakr ordered theMuslim 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 sonYazid was ultimately appointed to a leading command role in the conquest. Abu Sufyan was present at theBattle of the Yarmuk, 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 bySayf ibn Umar, he observed the battle alongside unspecified Arabshaykhs (chieftains), and accounts cited byal-Tabari further note that he "exhorted" the Muslim troops.[9][1] His son Yazid held a command role in the battle and later died in a plague inPalestine in 639.[1] Another of his sons,Mu'awiya, was appointed the governor of Syria by CaliphUmar (r. 634–644). Umar's successor,Uthman (r. 644–656), shared descent with Abu Sufyan fromUmayya ibn Abd Shams and was known to show special favor to his kinsmen. To that end, he symbolically honored Abu Sufyan, along withal-Hakam ibn Abi al-As andal-Walid ibn Uqba of the Umayyad line of the Banu Abd Shams, andal-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib of the Banu Hashim, by allowing them to sit on his throne in Medina.[10] Abu Sufyan died in 653 at the age of 88.[1]
Abu Sufyan's wifeṢāfiya bint Abi al-As was the mother ofRamla (Umm Ḥabība) (She first marriedUbayd-Allah ibn Jahsh, by whom she had one daughter,Ḥabība bint Ubayd Allah. After Ubayd Allah's death, she married Muhammad) and Umayma (She first married Huwaytib ibn Abd al-Uzza, by whom she had one son called Abu Sufyan).[11]: 169 Abu Sufyan's sonYazid was the son of Zaynab bint Nawfal of theKinana.[12] Abu Sufyan's well-known wifeHind bint Utba was the mother of Hanzala (killed in the Battle of Badr; Hind refers to Hanzala as her "firstborn"),[13]: 313, 337, 385 Mu'awiya,Utba (He is said to have been born "in the time of the Prophet," i.e., after 610.[14] He had a son namedal-Walid), Juwayriya (Her first husband was al-Sayib ibn Abi Hubaysh. Her second husband was Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Harith),[11]: 169 and Umm Hakam (She married Abd Allah ibn Uthman al-Thaqafi, by whom she had one son,Abd al-Rahman).[11][15] Another of his wife Lubaba bint Abi al-As was mother of Maymuna (Amina) (She married Abi Murrah binUrwa bin Mas'ud al-Thaqafi, and bore him a son, Dawud[13]: 589 and a daughter,Layla, who marriedal-Husayn bin Ali and bore al-Husayn his eldest son,Ali al-Akbar who was martyred in Karbala. Maymuna's second husband wasal-Mughira ibn Shu'ba).[11]: 169 Abu Sufyan and his wife Safiya bint Abi Amr ibn Umayya had Amr (taken captive in the Battle of Badr and later released),[13]: 313 Hind (he 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),[11]: 169 and Sakhra (She married Sayyid ibn al-Akhnas and is said to have had children by him).[11]: 169 Atiqa bint Abi Udhayhir[13]: 189 of the Daws tribe[16]: 220 had Anbasa.[16]: 220 Other Abu Sufyan's children include Ḥārith,[17] Al-Faraa,[13]: 214 and Azzah.[18]
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