Al-W¥^idÏ's Asb¥b al-Nuz‰l - The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies ...

Asbab al-Nuzul
late them even worse than what they did; we shall maim them in a way that none of the Arabs did before
to any other Arab; and we shall do this and we shall do that’. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him
and give him peace, stopped at the body of his paternal uncle Hamzah with his nose and ears amputated,
his male organs cut off and his stomach ripped open. Hind bint ‘Utbah had taken a piece of his liver,
chewed it and swallowed it but her stomach could not take it and she threw it up. When the Prophet,
Allah bless him and give him peace, heard of this, he said: ‘She would have never entered hell if she did
digest it; Hamzah is too noble in the sight of Allah to allow any part of his body to enter hell’. When the
Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, saw Hamzah [lying dead and mutilated], he
had never seen, before that, anything which was more painful to his heart. And so he said: ‘May Allah’s
mercy be on you; you were, as far as I know, someone who kept his ties of kinship and did always good
deeds. Had it not been for the grieving of those who survived of your family, it would have pleased me to
leave you as you are until you are resurrected [on the Day of Judgement] from different bellies. By Allah,
if Allah, exalted is He, gives me the opportunity to lay my hand on them, I will mutilate seventy men of
them, for what they did to you’. But Allah, exalted is He, revealed (If ye punish, then punish with the like
of that wherewith ye were affliced. But if ye endure patiently, verily it is better for the patient) and so the
Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, said: ‘I would rather be patient’, and then he made amends
for the oath he had made”.
Here, we need to mention how Hamzah was killed. ‘Amr ibn Abi ‘Amr al-Muzakki informed us> Muhammad
ibn Makki> Muhammad ibn Yusuf> Muhammad ibn Isma‘il al-Ju‘fi> Abu Ja‘far Muhammad
ibn ‘Abd Allah> Hujayn ibn al-Muthanna> ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Abi Salamah.
And we were informed by Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Yahya> his father> Muhammad
ibn Ishaq al-Thaqafi> Sa‘id ibn Yahya al-Umawi> his father> Muhammad ibn Ishaq> ‘Abd Allah ibn al-
Fadl ibn ‘Ayyash ibn Abi Rabi‘ah> Sulayman ibn Yasar> Ja‘far ibn ‘Amr ibn Umayyah al-Damri who said:
“I travelled with ‘Ubayd Allah ibn ‘Adiyy ibn al-Khiyar through Hums. While we were there ‘Ubayd Allah
said to me: ‘Do you wish to go to visit Wahshiyy to ask him how he killed Hamzah’. I said: ‘If you want
to’. A man said to us: ‘You will find him in the courtyard of his house; he is a man who is always drunk.
However, if he is sober, he will speak in Arabic and you might find what you are after’. When we got to
him, we greeted him and he raised his head. We said: ‘We have come to you to tell us about your killing
of Hamzah, may Allah have mercy on him’. He said: ‘I will relate to you exactly what I related to the
Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, when he asked me about the same. I was a slave
of Jubayr ibn Mut‘im ibn ‘Adiyy ibn Nawfal whose uncle Tu‘aymah ibn ‘Adiyy was killed at the Battle of
Badr. When the Quraysh marched toward Uhud, Jubayr ibn Mut‘im said to me: ‘You are free if you kill
Hamzah, Muhammad’s uncle, as a revenge for the killing of my uncle Tu‘aymah’. I went out with them.
It is to be remembered that I am an Abyssinian who is expert in throwing spears, like all Abyssinians,
and I never missed my target. When the two sides met, I went looking for Hamzah until I saw him in the
middle of the army, like a white-and-black camel, slaughtering people with his sword such that nothing
stood in his way. By Allah, I was waiting for my moment, hiding behind a rock or tree, so that he drew
closer to me, when Siba‘ ibn ‘Abd al-‘Uzza passed me and went toward him. When Hamzah, may Allah
have mercy on him, saw him, he called him: ‘Here, O son of a cutter of clitoris!’ 16 Then he struck him on
the head and, by Allah, he did not miss. I moved my spear about until I felt comfortable and threw it at
him. It caught him in the lower abdomen and the spear came out from his feet. He made a move toward
me and then collapsed and I left him to die. I went toward him, retrieved my spear and joined the people
at the camp. I did not want to kill anyone else, for I only killed him to gain my freedom. When I went
back to Mecca, I was emancipated. I stayed there until Islam spread throughout it upon which I travelled
to al-Ta’if. In Ta’if, they sent emissaries to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace,
and mentioned that he does not harm emissaries. And so I went with them to the Messenger of Allah,
Allah bless him and give him peace. When he saw me, he said: ‘Are you Wahshiyy’ and when I answered
in the affirmative, he asked again: ‘You are the one who killed Hamzah’ I said: ‘What happened is exactly
as it was related to you’. He said: ‘Could you keep your face away from me’ I left. When the Messenger
of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, died and Musaylimah the liar emerged to the people, I
16
Siba‘’s mother worked as a female circumciser in Mecca.
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