Abū Sufyān Is Taken

So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was in this area of Marr al-Ẓahrān. Abū Sufyān himself, the leader of Quraysh, along with Budayl ibn Warqāʾ and Ḥakīm ibn Ḥizām, came out of Makkah searching for information, asking the travellers. At night they were close to the Muslim army, and they saw the lights of the Muslims. So Abū Sufyān said: who are these? Budayl ibn Warqāʾ said: this is Khuzāʿah preparing for war. Abū Sufyān said: Khuzāʿah are much fewer than this; to have all of these lights, this cannot be Khuzāʿah. He said: they are more humble and few than to have these lights.

Abū Sufyān, Budayl and Ḥakīm were watching over the Muslim army, but the Muslim guards were alert, and they arrested the three of them and took them to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). In one narration they were arrested, and that is the stronger narration; in another narration it was al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib who found them. Anyway, the narration followed here is that they were arrested. So they were taken to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him).

In one narration it says that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb saw Abū Sufyān and wanted to kill him. But al-ʿAbbās had Abū Sufyān ride on the mule of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), and he was rushing to get to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) before ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb could kill Abū Sufyān, until they entered the place where the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was. And ʿUmar tried to have Abū Sufyān killed, while al-ʿAbbās was appealing to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) to spare his life. And the argument kept going on: al-ʿAbbās trying to convince the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) to spare his life, and ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb trying to convince the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) to allow him to be executed.

And then al-ʿAbbās got angry, and he said: O ʿUmar, if he were one of Banū ʿAdī — Banū ʿAdī are the clan of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb; Quraysh is the tribe, and then there are clans, and ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb belongs to Banū ʿAdī — so al-ʿAbbās is telling ʿUmar: if he were from among the clan of Banū ʿAdī, you would not have said so; but you know that he is from Banū ʿAbd Manāf. Banū ʿAbd Manāf are the family of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and also the family of Abū Sufyān: they are both descendants of Abū Sufyān^*.

ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb told al-ʿAbbās: wait, al-ʿAbbās. Your Islam is more beloved to me than the Islam of my father al-Khaṭṭāb would have been, had he become Muslim, because I know that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) would be more pleased by your Islam than if my father had become Muslim. So ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb was making it clear to al-ʿAbbās that this is not how we Muslims think. We do not think on a tribal level; that is not our way of thinking. I am happier at your Islam because you are the uncle of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), and it pleases the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him); so what pleases me is what pleases the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), and what makes me angry is what displeases the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb here was giving al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib a lesson in how the Muslims think: we do not view things from a nationalistic view, or a family-based view, or a clan view, or a tribal view; we base things on al-walāʾ and al-barāʾ. If a person is close to Allah, then we are loyal to that person; if a person is far away from Allah, then we are free of him and disassociate ourselves from such a person.

Anyway, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told them to leave and come back in the morning, according to that narration. And when they met in the morning, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) accepted the Islam of Budayl ibn Warqāʾ and Ḥakīm ibn Ḥizām. As for Abū Sufyān, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told him: is it not about time, Abū Sufyān, that you recognised that there is no god but One? Abū Sufyān said to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him): mā aḥlamaka wa mā akramak — how forbearing you are, and how generous. And then Abū Sufyān said: if there were any other gods besides Allah, they would have given us protection and defended us. So Abū Sufyān accepted that there is no god but Allah — no one worthy of worship but Allah; he accepted that.

And then the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told him: is it not about time, Abū Sufyān, that you testified that I am the Messenger of Allah? Abū Sufyān said: O Messenger of Allah, there is something in my heart against this at the moment. So: I accept ashhadu an lā ilāha illā Allāh, but I still feel difficulty in accepting that Muḥammad is the Messenger of Allah. Al-ʿAbbās told him: woe to you, Abū Sufyān; become a Muslim before your head is chopped off — before you are executed. Abū Sufyān said: wa ashhadu anna Muḥammadan rasūlu Allāh. And he became a Muslim.