Yāsir ibn ʿĀmir ibn Mālik al-ʿAnsīy ( ar, يَاسِر ٱبْن عَامِر ٱبْن مَالِك ٱلْعَنْسِيّ) (sixth/seventh century C.E.) was an early
companion of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mono ...
. He is the second martyr in Islam, with the first being his wife,
Sumayyah.
Early life
Yasir was originally from the Malik clan of the
Madhhij
Madhḥij ( ar, مَذْحِج) is a large Qahtanite Arab tribal confederation. It is located in south and central Arabia. This confederation participated in the early Muslim conquests and was a major factor in the conquest of the Persian empire ...
tribe in
Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast and s ...
. He and his two brothers, Al-Harith and Malik, travelled northwards to
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 city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow val ...
to search for a fourth brother who was lost. Al-Harith and Malik returned to Yemen, but Yasir decided to settle in Mecca. He entered the protection of
Abu Hudhayfa ibn al-Mughira, a member of the
Makhzum clan of the
Quraysh
The Quraysh ( ar, قُرَيْشٌ) were a grouping of Arab clans that historically inhabited and controlled the city of Mecca and its Kaaba. The Islamic prophet Muhammad was born into the Hashim clan of the tribe. Despite this, many of the Qu ...
tribe.
[Muhammad ibn Saad. ''Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir'' vol. 3. Translated by Bewley, A. (2013). ''The Companions of Badr''. London: Ta-Ha Publishers.][Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari. ''Tarikh al-Rusul wa’l-Muluk''. Translated by Landau-Tasseron, E. (1998). ''Volume 39: Biographies of the Prophet's Companions and Their Successors''. Albany: State University of New York Press.]
Abu Hudhayfa gave Yasir his slave Sumayyah as a wife, and she bore him a son,
Ammar, in c.566.
[Muhammad ibn Saad. ''Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir'' vol. 8. Translated by Bewley, A. (1995). ''The Women of Madina''. London: Ta-Ha Publishers.][Muir, W. (1861). ''The Life of Mahomet'', vol. 2, p. 125. London: Smith, Elder & Co.] Yasir also had two other sons, Hurth and Abdullah,[ but there is no indication that Sumayyah was their mother. Hurth, who was the eldest of the three, was killed by the Dil clan before 610.][
]
Conversion to Islam
Yasir, Sumayyah, Abdullah and Ammar all became Muslims at an early date "on the rise of Islam".[ From c.614 the Quraysh persecuted Muslims of low social rank.][Muhammad ibn Ishaq. ''Sirat Rasul Allah''. Translated by Guillaume, A. (1955). ''The Life of Muhammad''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ] After the death of Abu Hudhayfa left Yasir and his family without a protector in Mecca,[ the Makhzum clan tortured them to pressure them to abandon their faith.][
Yasir, Sumayyah and Ammar were forced to stand in the sun in the heat of the day dressed in mail-coats.][ Muhammad passed while they were standing like that and urged them, "Patience, O family of Yasir! Your meeting-place will be Paradise."][
Abu Jahl, a member of the Makhzum clan, killed Sumayyah by stabbing and impaling her with his spear.][
]
Death and legacy
It is generally assumed that Yasir was also killed in the persecution.
However, there is no mention of Yasir's death in any of the early sources such as Ibn Ishaq
Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Yasār ibn Khiyār (; according to some sources, ibn Khabbār, or Kūmān, or Kūtān, ar, محمد بن إسحاق بن يسار بن خيار, or simply ibn Isḥaq, , meaning "the son of Isaac"; died 767) was an 8 ...
, 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 ...
, Bukhari, Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...
or Tabari
( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari i ...
. Since he is not named among those who emigrated
Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanent ...
to Medina
Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...
in 622, he probably died before that date; but it is possible that his death was natural.
See also
*Sahaba
The Companions of the Prophet ( ar, اَلصَّحَابَةُ; ''aṣ-ṣaḥāba'' meaning "the companions", from the verb meaning "accompany", "keep company with", "associate with") were the disciples and followers of Muhammad who saw or m ...
References
External links
*http://www.haneen.com.eg/islam/SahabahStories/Ammar.shtm
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yasir ibn Amir
Sahabah martyrs