He was counted among the earliest converts; some say his personal name was Mihsham (1). He embraced Islam even before the believers began gathering in Dār al-Arqam. He migrated to Abyssinia twice, and while there his son Muḥammad ibn Abī Hudhayfah was born—the very man who later rose in revolt (2) against ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān. The child’s mother was Sahla bint Suhayl ibn ʿAmr, the woman known for her persistent bleeding (3). ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf subsequently married her, and she is the one who nursed Sālim after he had reached adulthood so that she might appear unveiled in his presence; according to the majority of scholars, that ruling applies exclusively to those two (4).
Abū al-Zinād relates that on the day of Badr, Abū Hudhayfah ibn ʿUtbah challenged his own father to single combat. Whereupon his sister Hind bint ʿUtbah—the mother of Muʿāwiyah—cried out:
(1) Muhashsham: Al-Suhayli, in al-Rawd al-Unuf, refutes Ibn Hisham for calling Abu Hudhayfa “Muhashsham”, a designation which genealogists deem erroneous. The name Muhashsham properly belongs to Abu Hudhayfa, son of the brother of Hashim and Hisham, the two sons of al-Mughira ibn Abd Allah ibn Umar ibn Makhzum. As for Abu Hudhayfa ibn Utba, his given name was Qays.
(2) Muhammad ibn Abi Hudhayfa, born in Abyssinia, was taken into the care of the caliph Uthman after his father’s martyrdom at Yamama. He later went to Egypt during Uthman’s rule and became one of the most active instigators against him. Muawiya deceived and imprisoned him. Ibn Qutayba reports that he was killed by Rashdin, Muawiya’s freedman, whereas Ibn al-Kalbi says he was slain by Malik ibn Hubayra al-Sukuni. For his biography and the events he stirred up, see al-Istiab 10/26; al-Isaba 9/110; Usd al-Ghaba 5/87.
(3) Abu Dawud transmits the hadith (no. 295, Book of Purification, chapter: “Who said that two prayers may be combined and one ghusl performed for both”) with the chain: ‘Abd al-Aziz ibn Yahya – Muhammad ibn Salama – Muhammad ibn Ishaq – ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Qasim – his father – Aisha. Sahla bint Suhayl experienced continuous bleeding, came to the Prophet, and he ordered her to bathe for every prayer. When this became too burdensome, he allowed her to combine dhuhr with ‘asr after one bath, maghrib with ‘isha after one bath, and to bathe separately for subh. For her biography, see al-Istiab 13/50; Usd al-Ghaba 7/154; al-Isaba 12/319-320.
(4) This report will be cited again under the biography of Salim, the freedman of Abu Hudhayfa, p. 166; consult it there.