He was at the end of the
third decade of his life on the day the
Prophet made public his call to guidance
and truth. He was held in high regard by
the Quraysh, being wealthy and of noble
lineage. Some others like him, Saud ibn
Abi Waqqas, Musab ibn Umayr and other
sons of noble families in Makkah had
become Muslims. He too might have
followed their example were it not for
his father. His father, Abu Jahl, was
the foremost proponent of Shirk and one
of the greatest tyrants of Makkah.
Through torture, he sorely tested the
faith of the early believers but they
remained steadfast. He used every
stratagem to make them waver but they
continued to affirm the truth.
Ikrimah found himself
defending the leadership and authority
of his father as he pitted himself
against the Prophet. His animosity
towards the Prophet, his persecution of
his followers and his attempts to block
the progress of Islam and the Muslims
won the admiration of his father.
At Badr, Abu Jahl led
the Makkan polytheists in the battle
against the Muslims. He swore by al-Laat
and al-Uzza that he would not return to
Makkah unless he crushed Muhammad. At
Badr he sacrificed three camels to these
goddesses. He drank wine and had the
music of singing girls to spur the
Quraysh on to fight.
Abu Jahl was among the
first to fall in the battle. His son
Ikrimah saw him as spears pierced his
body and heard him let out his last cry
of agony. Ikrimah returned to Makkah
leaving behind the corpse of the Quraysh
chieftain, his father. He wanted to bury
him in Makkah but the crushing defeat
they suffered made this impossible.
From that day, the
fire of hatred burned even more fiercely
in the heart of Ikrimah. Others whose
fathers were killed at Badr, also became
more hostile to Muhammad and his
followers. This eventually led to the
Battle of Uhud.
At Uhud Ikrimah was
accompanied by his wife, Umm Hakim. She
and other women stood behind the battle
lines beating their drums, urging the
Quraysh on to battle and upbraiding any
horseman who felt inclined to flee.
Leading the right
flank of the Quraysh was Khalid ibn
Walid. On the left was Ikrimah ibn Abu
Jahl. The Quraysh inflicted heavy losses
on the Muslims and felt that they had
avenged themselves for the defeat at
Badr. This was not, however, the end of
the state of conflict.
At the battle of the
Ditch, the Quraysh mushrikun besieged
Madinah. It was a long siege. The
resources and the patience of the
mushrikun were wearing out. Ikrimah,
feeling the strain of the siege, saw a
place where the ditch, dug by the
Muslims, was relatively narrow. With a
gigantic effort, he managed to cross. A
small group of Quraysh followed him. It
was a foolhardy undertaking. One of them
was immediately killed and it was only
by turning on his heels that Ikrimah
managed to save himself.
Nine years after his
hijrah, the Prophet returned with
thousands of his companions to Makkah.
The Quraysh saw them approaching and
decided to leave the way open for them
because they knew that the Prophet had
given instructions to his commanders not
to open hostilities. Ikrimah and some
others however went against the
consensus of the Quraysh and attempted
to block the progress of the Muslim
forces. Khalid ibn al-Walid, now a
Muslim, met and defeated them in a small
engagement during which some of
Ikrimah's men were killed and others who
could fled. Among those who escaped was
Ikrimah himself.
Any standing or
influence that Ikrimah may have had was
now completely destroyed. The Prophet,
peace be upon him, entered Makkah and
gave a general pardon and amnesty to all
Quraysh who entered the sacred mosque,
or who stayed in their houses or who
went to the house of Abu Sufyan, the
paramount Quraysh leader. However he
refused to grant amnesty to a few
individuals whom he named. He gave
orders that they should be killed even
if they were found under the covering of
the Kabah. At the top of this list was
Ikrimah ibn Abu Jahl. When Ikrimah
learnt of this, he slipped out of Makkah
in disguise and headed for the Yemen.
Umm Hakim, Ikrimah's
wife, then went to the camp of the
Prophet. With her was Hind bint Utbah,
the wife of Abu Sufyan and the mother of
Muawiyah, and about ten other women who
wanted to pledge allegiance to the
Prophet. At the camp, were two of his
wives, his daughter Fatimah and some
women of the Abdulmuttalib clan. Hind
was the one who spoke. She was veiled
and ashamed of what she had done to
Hamzah, the Prophet's uncle, at the
battle of Uhud.
"O Messenger of
God," she said, "Praise be to
God Who has made manifest the religion
He has chosen for Himself. I beseech you
out of the bonds of kinship to treat me
well. I am now a believing woman who
affirms the Truth of your mission."
She then unveiled herself and said:
"I am Hind, the
daughter of Utbah, O Messenger of God.
"
"Welcome to
you," replied the Prophet, peace be
on him.
"By God, O
Prophet" continued Hind,
"there was not a house on earth
that I wanted to destroy more than your
house. Now, there is no house on earth
that I so dearly wish to honor and raise
in glory than yours."
Umm Hakim then got up
and professed her faith in Islam and
said: "O Messenger of God, Ikrimah
has fled from you to the Yemen out of
fear that you would kill him. Grant him
security and God will grant you
security."
"He is
secure," promised the Prophet. Umm
Hakim set out immediately in search of
Ikrimah. Accompanying her was a Greek
slave. When they had gone quite far on
the way, he tried to seduce her but she
managed to put him off until she came to
a settlement of Arabs. She sought their
help against him. They tied him up and
kept him. Umm Hakim continued on her way
until she finally found Ikrimah on the
coast of the Red Sea in the region of
Tihamah. He was negotiating transport
with a Muslim seaman who was saying to
him:
"Be pure and
sincere and I will transport you."
"How can I be
pure?" asked Ikrimah.
"Say, I testify
that there is no god but Allah and that
Muhammad is the Messenger of
Allah."
"I have fled from
this very thing," said Ikrimah.
At this point, Umm
Haklm came up to Ikrimah and said:
"O cousin, I have
come to you from the most generous of
men, the most righteous of men, the best
of men... from Muhammad ibn Abdullah. I
have asked him for an amnesty for you.
This he has granted. So do not destroy
yourself. "
"Have you spoken
to him?"
"Yes, I have
spoken to him and he has granted you
amnesty," she assured him and he
returned with her. She told him about
the attempt of their Greek slave to
dishonor her and Ikrimah went directly
to the Arab settlement where he lay
bound and killed him.
At one of their
resting places on their way back,
Ikrimah wanted to sleep with his wife
but she vehemently refused and said:
"I am a Muslimah
and you are a Mushrik."
Ikrimah was totally
taken aback and said, "Living
without you and without your sleeping
with me is an impossible
situation." As Ikrimah approached
Makkah, the Prophet, peace be upon him,
told his companions: "Ikrimah ibn
Abu Jahl shall come to you as a believer
and a muhajir (a refugee). Do not insult
his father. Insulting the dead causes
grief to the living and does not reach
the dead."
Ikrimah and his wife
came up to where the Prophet was
sitting. The Prophet got up and greeted
him enthusiastically.
"Muhammad,"
said Ikrimah, "Umm Hakim has told
me that you have granted me an
amnesty."
"That's
right," said the Prophet, "You
are safe."
"To what do you
invite?" asked Ikrimah.
"I invite you to
testify that there is no god but Allah
and that I am the servant of Allah and
His messenger, to establish Prayer and
pay the Zakat and carry out all the
other obligations of Islam."
"By God,"
responded Ikrimah, "You have only
called to what is true and you have only
commanded that which is good. You lived
among us before the start of your
mission and then you were the most
trustworthy of us in speech and the most
righteous of us." Stretching forth
his hands he said, "I testify that
there is no god but Allah and that
Muhammad is His servant and His
messenger." The Prophet then
instructed him to say, "I call on
God and those present here to witness
that I am a Muslim who is a Mujahid and
a Muhajir". This Ikrimah repeated
and then said:
"I ask you to ask
God for forgiveness for me for all the
hostility I directed against you and for
whatever insults I expressed in your
presence or absence." The Prophet
replied with the prayer:
"O Lord, forgive
him for all the hostility he directed
against me and from all the expeditions
he mounted wishing to put out Your
light. Forgive him for whatever he has
said or done in my presence or absence
to dishonor me."
Ikrimahs face beamed
with happiness.
"By God, O
messenger of Allah, I promise that
whatever I have spent obstructing the
way of God, I shall spend twice as much
in His path and whatever battles I have
fought against God's way I shall fight
twice as much in His way."
From that day on,
Ikrimah was committed to the mission of
Islam as brave horseman in the field of
battle and as a steadfast worship per
who would spend much time in mosques
rending the book of God. Often he would
place the mushaf on his face and say,
"The Book of my Lord, the words of
my Lord" and he would cry from the
fear of God.
Ikrimah remained true
to his pledge to the Prophet. Whatever
battles the Muslims engaged in
thereafter, he participated in them and
he was always in the vanguard of the
army. At the battle of Yarmuk he plunged
into the attack as a thirsty person
after cold water on a blistering hot
day. In one encounter in which the
Muslims were under heavy attack, Ikrimah
penetrated deep into the ranks of the
Byzantine. Khalid ibn al-Walid rushed up
to him and said, "Don't, Ikrimah.
Your death will be a severe blow to the
Muslims."
"Let us carry on,
Khalid," said Ikrimah, now at the
peak of motivation. "You had the
privilege of being with the Messenger of
God before this. As for myself and my
father, we were among his bitterest
enemies. Leave me now to atone for what
I have done in the past. I fought the
Prophet on many occasions. Shall I now
flee from the Byzantines? This shall
never be." Then calling out to the
Muslims, he shouted, "Who shall
pledge to fight until death?"
Four hundred Muslims
including al-Harith ibn Hisham and
Ayyash ibn Abi Rabiah responded to his
call. They plunged into the battle and
fought heroically without the leadership
of Khalid ibn al-Walid. Their daring
attack paved the way for a decisive
Muslim victory.
When the battle was
over, the bodies of three wounded
mujahideen lay sprawled on the
battleground, among them Al-Harith ibn
Hisham, Ayyash ibn Abi Rabiah and
Ikrimah ibn Abu Jahl. Al-Harith called
for water to drink. As it was brought to
him, Ayyash looked at him and Harith
said:
"Give it to
Ayyash." By the time they got to
Ayyash, he had just breathed his last.
When they returned to al-Harith and
Ikrimaha, they found that they too had
passed away.
The companions prayed
that God may be pleased with them all
and grant them refreshment from the
spring of Kawthar in Paradise, a
refreshment after which there is thirst
no more.
Sheikh Abdulfattah Abu-Abdullah Adelabu (Ph. D. Damas),
a West African Islamic Academic founded AWQAF Africa, of
which he's the first al Amir (i.e. President).
Sheikh Dr. Adelabu was studying Postgraduate Degrees in
Damascus early 1990's during when Syria reviewed its
national security after an ‘Oslo Accord'...
Syria like many other countries around the world
witnessed, during this period, the flood of refugees
from war troubled nations like Somalia, arrival of
people from Algeria during the brutal struggling between
the Mujahidun and the government, resettlement of the
Palestinians fleeing from sophisticated guns of the
Israelis as well as adventure of African migrants for
reasons uncountable…