Abu Sufyan ibn Harb: Leader of Quraysh and Father of a Dynasty

Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, whose given name was Sakhr, was the foremost political and military leader of the Quraysh of Mecca during the years of the Prophet's mission at Medina. It was the caravan he was bringing up from Syria that set the Battle of Badr in motion; he commanded the Meccan army at Uhud and at the Trench; and during the truce that followed the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah he was summoned before the Byzantine emperor Heraclius at Jerusalem and questioned, at length and under the eyes of his own companions, about the man he had spent a decade fighting. He accepted Islam on the eve of the conquest of Mecca, when the Prophet declared his house a place of safety for anyone who entered it. His daughter Umm Habiba was a wife of the Prophet, and his son Muawiyah would found the Umayyad Caliphate a generation later.

He should not be confused with Abu Sufyan ibn al-Harith, a first cousin of the Prophet who bore the same kunya, fought on the Meccan side at Badr, and converted at the same period. The two men were of different clans and are distinct throughout the sources.

Lineage and Household

Abu Sufyan belonged to Banu Abd Shams through his father Harb and his grandfather Umayya ibn Abd Shams, from whom the Umayyads took their name. That descent placed him in the branch of the Quraysh that had long stood in rivalry with Banu Hashim, the Prophet's own clan — a rivalry that ran back to the generation of Hashim and Abd Shams themselves. His full line, as given in the biographical notices, is Sakhr ibn Harb ibn Umayya ibn Abd Shams al-Qurashi.

His wife was Hind bint Utba, daughter of Utba ibn Rabi'a, one of the Meccan chiefs killed at Badr. Their children included Muawiyah, who became governor of Syria and then caliph; Yazid; and a daughter, Ramla, known as Umm Habiba, who accepted Islam early, emigrated to Abyssinia, and later married the Prophet by a proxy contracted through the Negus — so that for the closing years of Abu Sufyan's opposition his own daughter was in the Prophet's household. Sahih al-Bukhari preserves her asking the Prophet to marry her sister, "the daughter of Abu Sufyan," and his refusing on the ground that two sisters may not be married at once.

The Caravan and the Road to Badr

In 2 AH the Muslims moved to intercept a Quraysh trade caravan returning from Syria under Abu Sufyan's charge. Learning of their intention, he made the decision that shaped what followed: he took the caravan off the main route and swung west towards the Red Sea coast, slipping past the waiting Muslim force and out of reach. He also sent word ahead to Mecca that the caravan was safe and the army raised to protect it could turn back.

The Meccan force, already on the march and by then near Badr, showed an inclination to do exactly that. It was Abu Jahl who overrode the message and insisted on battle. Abu Sufyan himself, having saved the caravan, was not present at the defeat that followed — a defeat in which his father-in-law Utba ibn Rabi'a and many of the Meccan leadership were killed. The removal of that senior generation at Badr left him the leading man of Quraysh.

Uhud and the Trench

At Uhud in 3 AH he commanded in person. The Quraysh dispositions placed Khalid ibn al-Walid, then still an opponent of Islam, over the right wing with a hundred horse and Ikrima ibn Abi Jahl over the left with an equal force, while the Banu Abd al-Dar carried the standard as they had traditionally done. Abu Sufyan worked on them before the fighting by reproach rather than encouragement, telling them bluntly that their conduct at Badr had brought misfortune and that they must now make good their right to the standard or see it given to someone else.

Uhud was a Meccan success, though not a decisive one, and in its aftermath Abu Sufyan's judgement was for withdrawal. When the Quraysh caught two Muslim scouts near their camp and understood from their presence that the Muslims were in an aggressive mood and seeking a further engagement, he gave orders to move for Mecca, and the army rode away. The Muslims reached the abandoned position at Hamra al-Asad, camped four nights, and returned to Medina.

He led the Meccan effort again at the Trench in 5 AH, when the confederacy besieging Medina failed to force the defences and dispersed. After that, Quraysh did not take the field against Medina again, and the contest passed into the phase of truce and negotiation that ended in the surrender of the city.

Before Heraclius

The most fully preserved episode in which Abu Sufyan speaks at length is not a battle but an interrogation, and it comes to us in his own words. Sahih al-Bukhari places it in the Book of Revelation, narrated from Ibn Abbas, who had it from Abu Sufyan directly. It happened during the truce established at Hudaybiyyah, while Abu Sufyan was in Syria with a Quraysh trading party. Heraclius sent for him, and the Meccans were brought to him at Ilya — Jerusalem — and admitted to a court filled with the senior Roman dignitaries.

The emperor asked through his translator which of them was most closely related to the man claiming to be a prophet. Abu Sufyan said that he was. Heraclius had him brought forward and his companions stood behind him, and instructed the translator to tell them that if Abu Sufyan lied they were to contradict him. Abu Sufyan's own comment on that arrangement is the most revealing line in the report:

"By Allah! Had I not been ashamed of my companions labelling me a liar, I would not have spoken the truth about the Prophet."

The questions came in sequence. What was the man's standing among them? "He belongs to a good, noble family amongst us." Had anyone claimed the same before him? No. Was any of his ancestors a king? No. Did the nobles follow him or the poor? "It is the poor who follow him." Were his followers increasing or decreasing? "They are increasing." Did anyone abandon the religion in displeasure after entering it? No. Had they ever known him to lie before his claim? No. Did he break his covenants? Here Abu Sufyan found his one opening and took it: "No. We are at truce with him but we do not know what he will do in it" — and he noted afterwards, "I could not find an opportunity to say anything against him except that word." Had they fought him? Yes. With what result? "Sometimes he was victorious and sometimes we." And what did he command them to do?

"He tells us to worship Allah Alone, and not to worship anything along with Him, and to renounce all that our ancestors had said. He orders us to pray, to speak the truth, to be chaste and to keep good relations with our kith and kin."

Heraclius then went back through the answers and read each as corroboration: prophets come from noble families; no predecessor's claim was being imitated; no ancestral kingdom was being reclaimed; a man who did not lie to people would not lie about God; the poor are always the first followers; a faith that grows is a true one; and no one abandons a faith whose delight has entered his heart. His conclusion, as the hadith records it, was that if what he had been told was true, the man would soon possess the ground beneath his feet — and that had he been able to reach him he would have gone to him and washed his feet. He then called for the Prophet's letter, which had been carried to the governor of Busra and forwarded on, and had it read out: an invitation to Islam addressed to "Heraclius, the ruler of the Byzantines."

The Conquest of Mecca and His Conversion

When the Muslim army advanced on Mecca in 8 AH, Quraysh sent Abu Sufyan out with Budayl ibn Warqa' and Hakim ibn Hizam to assess what was coming. Riding the Prophet's white mule near the encampments, al-Abbas overheard Abu Sufyan remarking that he had never seen fires and camps on such a scale, and Budayl guessing they must belong to Khuza'a — a suggestion Abu Sufyan dismissed, since Khuza'a were neither numerous nor rich enough for it. Al-Abbas recognised the voice and called out to him by his kunya, Abu Hanzala; Abu Sufyan answered with al-Abbas's own, Abu al-Fadl.

Al-Abbas told him plainly what he was looking at: the Prophet of God at the head of his people, and misery for Quraysh in the morning. "Oh the misery of it! What shall we do?" Al-Abbas put him on the mule, sent his companions back to Mecca, and brought him into the Muslim camp, where the sight of the Prophet's own mount let them pass unchallenged between the ranks and the fires. At Umar ibn al-Khattab's fire Umar recognised him, understood that al-Abbas meant to shield him, and went to the Prophet's tent to ask leave to strike his neck. Al-Abbas followed, saying that he had extended his protection to the man for that night. The Prophet ended the argument: "O Abbas, take your guest to your tent and bring him over in the morning."

The audience the next day took place before the elders of the Muhajirun and the Ansar, and Abu Sufyan gave ground in two stages. Asked whether it was not time he acknowledged that there is no god but God, he answered with elaborate courtesy and a genuine concession — that if God had an associate, such a one had been given ample time to prove himself and had not. Asked whether it was not time to acknowledge the messengership, he again praised the Prophet's generosity but said he was still not sure of that claim. It was al-Abbas who forced the point, telling him to accept Islam and testify before he was put to death; and Abu Sufyan made the confession of faith.

Al-Abbas then asked a favour for him — "Abu Sufyan is a proud man. Would you not grant him some privilege?" — and the answer turned Abu Sufyan's house into a sanctuary on the day his city fell:

"Whoever enters the house of Abu Sufyan shall be secure; whoever remains in his own house shall also be secure; and whoever enters the Mosque shall be secure."

Sahih Muslim preserves the same declaration from the other side of the day. In Abu Hurayrah's narration, Abu Sufyan came to the Prophet on al-Safa and said that the blood of Quraysh had been made lawful and there would be no Quraysh after that day; the Prophet answered, "Whoever enters the house of Abu Sufyan will be safe. Whoever throws down his arms will be safe. Whoever locks his door will be safe." The Ansar murmured among themselves that the man had been overtaken by love of his city and compassion for his kinsmen. Revelation came, and the Prophet turned to them: they had said he was overcome by tenderness for his tribe and his city — then what was his name? "I am Muhammad, the slave of Allah and His Messenger."

Before the entry, the Prophet had Abu Sufyan held at the mouth of the valley to watch the army file past, so that he could describe it accurately to his people. Nothing in the procession struck him like the company in which the Prophet himself rode among the Muhajirun and the Ansar, so closely ranked and so well armed that they looked a solid mass of iron. "O Abu al-Fadl," he said to al-Abbas, "no force can stand in the face of this. By God, the dominion of your nephew has become truly great." Then he hurried ahead into Mecca, shouting to the Quraysh at the top of his voice that Muhammad was coming.

Whether that night's meeting was as accidental as it appears has been discussed since. Haykal reports the view of historians who hold that some prearrangement must have preceded it — noting that Abu Sufyan had lately been in Medina trying without success to extend the term of the Hudaybiyyah truce, and that a man in his position had reason to secure his standing in advance of a conquest he could not prevent. Haykal also notes what argues against it, that Umar's demand to kill him shows no such understanding was general, and concludes that the question is conjecture either way.

After Islam

Abu Sufyan was among the Quraysh notables to whom the Prophet gave camels from the spoils taken after Hunayn, a distribution made to men whose allegiance was new and whose hearts were being won; his son Muawiyah is named in the same list.

He was also given a task at Ta'if that measured the change in his position exactly. When the delegation of Thaqif returned home after accepting Islam, the Prophet sent Abu Sufyan with al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba to destroy the idol al-Lat, both men being known to Thaqif and on good terms with them. Al-Mughira did the breaking while the women of Thaqif stood about lamenting, and not one of the tribesmen moved to stop him, the agreement with the Prophet having already been ratified. Al-Mughira took the wealth and jewellery of the shrine, and on the Prophet's instruction and with Abu Sufyan's agreement used it to settle the debts of Urwa and al-Aswad.

His wife Hind bint Utba, whose hostility to the Prophet's family had been among the fiercest in Mecca, came to the Prophet after the conquest and said as much to his face — that there had been no household on earth she had wished to see brought lower than his, and that there was now none she wished to see raised higher. Abu Sufyan lived on into the caliphate of the Rashidun, and his daughter Umm Habiba is recorded praying for benefit from the three men who framed her life: her husband the Messenger of God, her father Abu Sufyan, and her brother Muawiyah. He died at Medina.

His longest consequence was dynastic rather than personal. Within thirty years of his death the son he had fathered in Mecca held the caliphate, and the line of Abd Shams that had contested the leadership of the Quraysh with Banu Hashim for generations ruled the Muslim world from Damascus — a history taken up in the articles on Muawiyah and the Umayyad Caliphate.

References and Further Reading

Primary Islamic Sources

• Al-Bukhari, Muhammad ibn Ismail. Sahih al-Bukhari, Book of Revelation, hadith 7 — narrated from Ibn Abbas from Abu Sufyan, the interrogation by Heraclius at Jerusalem and the reading of the Prophet's letter
• Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj. Sahih Muslim — Abu Hurayrah's narration of the conquest of Mecca, Abu Sufyan's appeal on al-Safa, the declaration of safety for those entering his house, and the Prophet's answer to the Ansar
• Al-Bukhari, Sahih al-Bukhari, the chapter on Hind bint Utba — her words to the Prophet on entering Islam
• Al-Bukhari, Sahih al-Bukhari, hadith 5107 — Umm Habiba's request that the Prophet marry her sister, the daughter of Abu Sufyan
• Quran 9:60 — the categories of those to whom the alms are due, including those whose hearts are to be reconciled, under which the distribution after Hunayn is discussed

Classical Islamic Sources

• Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah, in the recension of Ibn Hisham — the Quraysh leadership through the Medinan campaigns and the conquest of Mecca
• Ibn Kathir, Ismail ibn Umar. Al-Sira al-Nabawiyya — the narrative of Badr, Uhud, the Trench and the conquest in which Abu Sufyan's part is set

Academic and Scholarly Sources

• Haykal, Muhammad Husayn. The Life of Muhammad — the reconnaissance before the conquest, the night meeting with al-Abbas, Umar's demand, the audience at which he accepted Islam, his review of the army, the question of prearrangement, and the destruction of al-Lat
• Al-Mubarakpuri, Safi-ur-Rahman. The Sealed Nectar (Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum). Riyadh: Darussalam — the diversion of the Badr caravan and the message sent to the Meccan army
• Najeebabadi, Akbar Shah. History of Islam, Volume 1 — the Quraysh dispositions at Uhud and his address to the Banu Abd al-Dar
• Akram, A. I. The Sword of Allah: Khalid bin al-Waleed — the Quraysh decision to withdraw to Mecca after Uhud
• Atlas of the Quran — the list of those given camels from the spoils after Hunayn

Further Reading

These works were not consulted for this article and are listed for readers who wish to pursue the subject further. Nothing in the body text rests on them.

• Guillaume, Alfred, trans. The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1955 — the standard English Ibn Ishaq, in which the Medinan campaigns and the conquest may be read in sequence
• Ibn Sa'd, Muhammad. Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir — the classical biographical dictionary's notice of Abu Sufyan and his household
• Hawting, G. R. The First Dynasty of Islam: The Umayyad Caliphate AD 661–750. London: Routledge, 2000 — for the dynasty his son founded