Suhayl ibn ʿAmr

Suhayl ibn ʿAmr, one of the nobility, one of the leaders of the people of Quraysh, was taken as a prisoner of war. He used to speak against Islam; he was affluent, and a good, eloquent speaker. So ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allah be pleased with him) said: O Messenger of Allah, let me extract the two front teeth of Suhayl ibn ʿAmr, so his tongue will protrude and he will never speak ill of you again. ʿUmar wanted to mutilate his mouth, and pull out his teeth, so that he would not be able to speak properly again. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: I will not mutilate him, because Allah could mutilate me — meaning that this is not the way of Islam, in dealing even with an enemy. And the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) then said: maybe he will take a stand for which you will not criticise him — maybe, one day, this tongue of his, which was used for evil, would be an instrument of good.

Subḥān Allāh, that did happen, as the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) had stated. When the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) died, and all of the Arabs apostatised, Suhayl ibn ʿAmr was the reason for the steadfastness of the people of Makkah. He stood up and said: yā maʿshara Quraysh, lā takūnū ākhira al-nāsi islāman wa awwalahum riddatan; man rabnā ḍarabnā ʿunuqah — all people of Quraysh, do not be the last people to enter Islam and the first of them to leave it; whoever we are suspicious of, we will behead. These words kept the people of Makkah firm on Islam, even though they were new Muslims, and their Islam could have been weak because it had not yet taken deep root in their hearts — but because of these words of Suhayl ibn ʿAmr, they remained Muslim.