The leader, the champion, the lion-heart, the Lion of Allah; Abū ʿUmārah—also called Abū Yaʿlā—al-Qurashī al-Hāshimī, first of Mecca and then of Medina, a veteran of Badr and a martyr.
He was the uncle of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his foster brother. (1)
Ibn Isḥāq (2) said: “When Ḥamzah accepted Islam, Quraysh realized that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had gained protection and that Ḥamzah would defend him, so they held back from some of the harm they had been inflicting on him.”
Abū Isḥāq narrates—through Ḥārithah ibn Muḍarrib—from ʿAlī:
“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to me, ‘Call Ḥamzah.’ I asked, ‘Who is the man on the red camel?’ Ḥamzah replied, ‘He is ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah.’ Ḥamzah then went out that day, challenged ʿUtbah, and killed him.” (3)
Usāmah ibn Zayd transmitted, from Nāfiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar, who said:
“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ heard the women of the Anṣār weeping over their dead and said, ‘Yet Ḥamzah has no mourners.’ So the women came and wept for Ḥamzah in his presence until he said, ‘Tell them not to weep for anyone who dies after—’”
al-Jarh wa al-Taʿdil 3/212; al-Istiʿab 3/70-82; Usd al-Ghaba 2/51-55; Tahdhib al-Asmaʾ wa-l-Lughat 1/168-169; al-ʿIbar 1/5; Majmaʿ al-Zawaʾid 9/266-268; al-ʿAqd al-Thamin 4/227; al-Isaba 2/285-287; Shadharat al-Dhahab 1/10.
(1) In the printed edition the word was mistakenly set as “fi”.
(2) This is a fragment of a longer hadith found in Ibn Hisham 1/292 and in Ibn al-Athir’s Usd al-Ghaba 2/52; al-Haythami cites it (9/267), attributing it to al-Tabarani, judging it mursal, yet affirming that its transmitters are trustworthy. Al-Hakim also recorded it (3/193).
(3) Reported by Ibn Saʿd 3/1/6 and by al-Hakim in full (3/194), who declared it sound—and his judgment is correct. Al-Dhahabi, however, observed that the two Shaykhs did not transmit anything from Haritha, and Ibn al-Madini considered him weak. The author erred in relaying this assessment, for it is not firmly attributed to Ibn al-Madini. Haritha was graded reliable by Ahmad, Ibn Maʿin, and Ibn Hibban, and his reports appear in the Sunan compilations as well as in al-Bukhari’s al-Adab al-Mufrad.