Hamza

When Muhammad was very young,

after Halima had returned him to his mother Amina in Makkah,

he used to play with his cousins,

and was particularly fond of Hamza and Safiyyah,

They were the children of 'Abd al-Muttalib,

which made them his uncle and aunt

even though Hamza was about the same age as him

and Safiyyah was just a little younger.

As they grew up together it became clear

that although Muhammad was of average size and strength

Hamza was going to be a giant of a man,

hugely strong,

a good swordsman

and an excellent wrestler.

Their friendship lasted for many years,

and when Khadija proposed marriage to Muhammad

it was Hamza who represented the Hashim clan in the arrangements,

as Safiyyah was by then married to Khadija's brother 'Awwam.

Later,

when Muhammad's life changed after the events in the cave at Hira,

Hamza found it puzzling

but at first didn't accept that Muhammad had been chosen as a Messenger of God,

even though he knew that people were calling his old friend a liar.

Then things changed.

One of the people who hated the words of the Messenger the most

was a man of the clan Makhzum named 'Amr,

known as Abu l-Hakam, 'the father of wisdom',

which the muslims quickly changed to Abu Jahl,

'the father of ignorance'.

One day,

when the Messenger was sitting on a rock

at the foot of the hill of Safa not far from the Ka'aba,

Abu Jahl was passing by and stopped to shout insults at him.

And although

Abu Jahl called him all the worst things he could think of,

the Messenger said nothing.

But shortly after this Hamza came along

with his bow on his back after being out hunting,

and as he was walking past Safa on his way home

a woman who lived nearby came out of her house

to tell him how much the Messenger had been abused by Abu Jahl.

Hamza was enraged by this,

hearing how much Abu Jahl had insulted Muhammad,

a member of his own clan,

the son of his brother,

and his lifelong friend.

So he went to find Abu Jahl where he was

sitting with friends near to the Ka'aba

and confronted him.

Bringing his bow down with all his force upon Abu Jahl's back,

he said

"Will you insult him now that I am of his religion

and agree with what he says?",

and he challenged Abu Jahl to fight with him instead.

Now Abu Jahl knew better than to fight with the giant Hamza,

and quickly backed down,

and from then on the Quraysh were much more wary of insulting Muhammad,

knowing that Hamza would protect him.

From that time, Hamza was steadfast in his Islam,

one of the first to go to Yathrib,

and it was he who struck the first blow at the battle of Badr,

fighting and killing Aswad of Makhzum.

But it was much later in the battle of Uhud

that Hamza bin 'Abd al-Muttalib was martyred.

When the Quraysh set out for this battle,

Jubayr ibn Mut'im remained in Makkah,

but sent with the army an Abyssinian slave named Wahshi,

who was an expert at throwing the javelin

and rarely known to miss his mark.

And Mut'im told Wahshi that if he managed to kill Hamza

he would release him and make him a free man.

Now Abu Sufyan, the commander in chief of the Quraysh army,

was accompanied by his wife Hind,

who had a particular hatred for Hamza,

and during the journey from Makkah to Madinah,

whenever she met Wahshi she reminded him

of the rewards he would receive for accomplishing his task,

eventually urging him on even in the very heart of the battle.

Unlike the rest of the fighters, Wahshi was interested in only one man,

and having found a safe place on the edge of the battle

yet close enough to reach his target with the throw of a javelin,

he waited for his opportunity.

Hamza was easy to see, being such a big man,

and also because

he wore an ostrich plume on his helmet,

and as he fought and lifted his sword

he exposed a chink in his armour.

And this was enough for Wahshi,

whose aim was true,

and whose javelin pierced Hamza and killed him.

With that, Wahshi retrieved his javelin

and returned to the Qurayshi camp,

saying that he had done all that he had been asked to do,

and that was just to gain his freedom.

With the muslim army having retreated to higher ground,

the Qurayshi army seemed to have won the day,

so they proceeded to search the battlefield

for anything that had any value.

But Hind was not interested in riches,

but only in showing her hatred

for the man she had urged Wahshi to kill.

She had previously vowed to eat Hamza's liver,

and now she fulfilled her pledge,

his liver having been ripped out of his body

and presented to her.

But that was not enough for Hind,

who cut off Hamza's nose and his ears,

and other parts of his flesh,

and wore them around her neck as ornaments.

Of all the enemies of Islam he encountered,

it was probably Hind that the Messenger found hardest to forgive

for the way that she treated the body of his protector

and lifelong friend,

Hamza bin 'Abd al-Muttalib.