Family

Family lineage

‘Uqbah was the son of Abu Mu‘ayṭ ibn Abu ‘Amr ibn Umayyah ibn ‘Abd Shams and of Shayma bint Abd-al-Uzza from the Banu Amir. Abu Mu'ayt's mother was Kabsha bint Abd al-Manat from Banu Amir. Uqbah's aunt, Safiyya bint Abi ‘Amr, married Abu Sufyan.

Family marriage

He married

Arwa bint Kurayz Arwā bint Kurayz ( ar, أَرْوَى بِنْت كُرَيْز) was the mother of Uthman ibn Affan, a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and the third of the ''Rashidun'' or "Rightly Guided Caliphs". Ancestry Arwa was the daughter o ...

, a member of the Abdshams clan and the widow of ‘Affān ibn Abu al-‘Āṣ, making Uqba the stepfather of the future Caliph

Uthman Uthman ibn Affan ( ar, عثمان بن عفان, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān; – 17 June 656), also spelled by Colloquial Arabic, Turkish and Persian rendering Osman, was a second cousin, son-in-law and notable companion of the Islamic proph ...

, Abd-Allah and Amina. Uqba and Arwa had six children:

Walid Waleed (), also spelt as Walid, Oualid, or Velid, is an Arabic-language masculine given name meaning ''newborn child''. Given name Waleed *Waleed Ali, Kuwaiti footballer *Waleed Aly, Egyptian-origin Australian journalist *Waleed bin Ibrahim Al Ibr ...

Umara Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or ceremo ...

, Khalid,

Umm Kulthum Umm Kulthum ( ar, أم كلثوم, , also spelled ''Oum Kalthoum'' in English; born Fatima Ibrahim es-Sayyid el-Beltagi, ar, فاطمة إبراهيم السيد البلتاجي, Fāṭima ʾIbrāhīm es-Sayyid el-Beltāǧī, link=no; 31 Dece ...

, Umm Hakim and Hind.Muhammad ibn Saad. ''Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir Volume 8''. Translated by Bewley, A. (1995). ''The Women of Madina''. London: Ta-Ha Publishers.

Role of 'Uqbah in opposing Muhammad

Uqbah was one of the neighbors of Muhammad. Yet he assaulted Muhammad verbally and physically as he was preaching monotheism He also constantly ridiculed Muhammad when the latter was preaching in

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...

. On one occasion, when Muhammad was praying in the courtyard of the Ka'ba, Uqba brought the waste of a slaughtered camel (intestines, blood, dung, etc.) upon the suggestion of other Quraysh leaders who were gathered there, and placed it upon Muhammad's back while he was in prostration. They laughed so much so that they fell on each other. He remained in that position due to the weight, unable to lift his head from prostration until his daughter came and removed it.

Sahih Bukhari Sahih al-Bukhari ( ar, صحيح البخاري, translit=Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī), group=note is a ''hadith'' collection and a book of '' sunnah'' compiled by the Persian scholar Muḥammad ibn Ismā‘īl al-Bukhārī (810–870) around 846. Al ...

: Volume 1, Book 9, Number 499 On another occasion, Uqba spat on Muhammad's face at the incitement of his friend Ubay ibn Khalaf and so, a

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...

ic verse was revealed at that moment to Muhammad regarding Uqba and Ubay. Uqbah was also one of those enemies of Muhammad who rejoiced at the news of the death of Muhammad's second son 'Abdullah. Ubayy ibn Khalaf ibn Safwan was a close friend of ‘Uqbah. When Ubayy learned that ‘Uqba had sat and listened to the apostle, he told ‘Uqbah, ‘Do I hear that you have sat with Muhammad and listened to him? I swear I will never see you or speak to you again if you do the same again, or if you do not go and spit in his face.’ ‘Uqba indeed did this so that Allah sent down concerning the pair of them: “On the day that the sinner bites his hands, saying, would that I had chosen a path with the apostle.” (Sura 25: 27)

Death

According to numerous authentic and trustworthy sources such as a number of narrations in

, and

Ibn Sa'd Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Sa‘d ibn Manī‘ al-Baṣrī al-Hāshimī or simply Ibn Sa'd ( ar, ابن سعد) and nicknamed ''Scribe of Waqidi'' (''Katib al-Waqidi''), was a scholar and Arabian biographer. Ibn Sa'd was born in 784/785 C ...

's biographical compendium, the ''Tabaqat Al-Kubra'', Uqba was killed in the field during the

Battle of Badr The Battle of Badr ( ar, غَزْوَةُ بَدِرْ ), also referred to as The Day of the Criterion (, ) in the Quran, Qur'an and by Muslims, was fought on 13 March 624 CE (17 Ramadan (calendar month), Ramadan, 2 Anno Hegirae, AH), near the ...

and was among those Quraysh leaders whose corpses were buried in a pit. According to Muslim scholar

Safiur Rahman al-Mubarakpuri Safiur Rahman MubarakpuriAr-Raheeq Al-Makhtum Pdf
(Pdf); See at Author's Autobiograp ...

, after the Battle of Badr two captives – Nadr bin Harith and ‘Uqbah ibn Abū Mu‘ayṭ were beheaded by

Ali ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...

. Mubarakpuri mentions that this incident about the beheading is also mentioned in the

Sunan Abu Dawud ''Sunan Abu Dawood'' ( ar-at, سنن أبي داود, Sunan Abī Dāwūd) is one of the ''Kutub al-Sittah'' (six major hadith collections), collected by Abu Dawud al-Sijistani (d.889). Introduction Abu Dawood compiled twenty-one books related to ...

no 2686 and Anwal Ma'bud 3/12.Mubarakpuri
The Sealed Nectar (Free Version)
p. 129

References