He was at the end of the third decade of his life on
the day the Prophet made public his call to guidance
and truth. He was held in high regard by the Quraysh,
being wealthy and of noble lineage. Some others like
him, Sa'd ibn abi Waqqas, Mus'ab ibn Umayr and other
sons of noble families in Makkah had become Muslims.
He too might have followed their example were it not
for his father. His father, Abu Jahl, was the
foremost proponent of Shirk and one of the greatest
tyrants of Makkah. Through torture, he sorely tested
the faith of the early believers but they remained
steadfast. He used every strategem to make them
waver but they continued to affirm the truth.
Ikrimah found himself defending the leadership and
authority of his father as he pitted himself against
the Prophet. His animosity towards the Prophet, his
persecution of his followers and his attempts to
block the progress of Islam and the Muslims won the
admiration of his father. At Badr, Abu Jahl led the
Makkan polytheists in the battle against the
Muslims. He swore by al-Laat and al- Uzza that he
would not return to Makkah unless he crushed
Muhammad. At Badr he sacrificed three camels to
these goddesses. He drank wine and had the music of
singing girls to spur the Quraysh on to fight. Abu
Jahl was among the first to fall in the battle. His
son Ikrimah saw him as spears pierced his body and
heard him let out his last cry of agony. Ikrimah
returned to Makkah leavmg behind the corpse of the
Quraysh chieftain, his father. He wanted to bury him
in Makkah but the crushing defeat they suffered made
this impossible. From that day, the fire of hatred
burned even more fiercely in the heart of Ikrimah.
Others whose fathers were killed at Badr, also
became more hostile to Muhammad and his followers.
This eventually led to the Battle of Uhud. At Uhud
Ikrimah was accompanied by his wife, Umm Hakim. She
and other women stood behind the battle lines
beating their drums, urging the Quraysh on to battle
and upbraiding any horseman who felt inclined to
flee. Leading the right flank of the Quraysh was
Khalid ibn Walid. On the left was Ikrimah ibn abi
Jahl. The Quraysh inflicted heavy losses on the
Muslims and felt that they had avenged themselves
for the defeat at Badr. This was not, however, the
end of the state of conflict. At the battle of the
Ditch, the Quraysh mushrikun besieged Madinah. It
was a long siege. The resources and the patience of
the mushrikun were wearing out. Ikrimah, feeling the
strain of the siege, saw a place where the ditch,
dug by the Muslims, was relatively narrow. With a
gigantic effort, he managed to cross. A small group
of Quraysh followed him. It was a foolhardy
undertaking. One of them was immediately killed and
it was only by turning on his heels that Ikrimah
managed to save himself. Nine years after his hijrah,
the Prophet returned with thousands of his
companions to Makkah. The Quraysh saw them
approaching and decided to leave the way open for
them because they knew that the Prophet had given
instructions to his commanders not to open
hostilities. Ikrimah and some others however went
against the consen- sus of the Quraysh and attempted
to block the progress of the Muslim forces. Khalid
ibn al-Walid, now a Muslim, met and defeated them in
a small engagement during which some of Ikrimah's
men were killed and others who could, fled. Among
those who escaped was Ikrimah himself. Any standing
or influence that Ikrimah may have had was now
completely destroyed. The Prophet, peace be upon
him, entered Makkah and gave a general pardon and
amnesty to all Quraysh who entered the sacred
mosque, or who stayed in their houses or who went to
the house of Abu Sufyan, the paramount Quraysh
leader. However he refused to grant amnesty to a few
individuals whom he named. He gave orders that they
should be killed even if they were found under the
covering of the Ka'bah. At the top of this list was
Ikrimah ibn abi Jahl. When Ikrimah learnt of this,
he slipped out of Makkah in disguise and headed for
the Yemen. Umm Hakim, Ikrimah's wife, then went to
the camp of the Prophet. With her was Hind bint
Utbah, the wife of Abu Sufyan and the mother of
Mu'awiyah, and about ten other women who wanted to
pledge allegiance to the Prophet. At the camp, were
two of his wives, his daughter Fatimah and some
women of the Abdulmuttalib clan. Hind was the one
who spoke. She was veiled and ashamed of what she
had done to Hamzah, the Prophet's uncle, at the
battle of Uhud. "O Messenger of God," she said,
"Praise be to God Who has made manifest the religion
He has chosen for Himself. I beseech you out of the
bonds of kinship to treat me well. I am now a
believing woman who affirms the Truth of your
mission." She then unveiled herself and said: "I am
Hind, the daughter of Utbah, O Messenger of God. "
"Welcome to you," replied the Prophet, peace be on
him. "By God, O Prophet" continued Hind, "there was
not a house on earth that I wanted to destroy more
than your house. Now, there is no house on earth
that I so dearly wish to honour and raise in glory
than yours." Umm Hakim then got up and professed her
faith in Islam and said: "O Messenger of God,
Ikrimah has fled from you to the Yemen out of fear
that you would kill him. Grant him security and God
will grant you security." "He is secure," promised
the Prophet. Umm Hakim set out immediately in search
of Ikrimah. Accompanying her was a Greek slave. When
they had gone quite far on the way, he tried to
seduce her but she managed to put him off until she
came to a settlement of Arabs. She sought their help
against him. They tied him up and kept him. Umm
Hakim continued on her way until she finally found
Ikrimah on the coast of the Red Sea in the region of
Tihamah. He was negotiating transport with a Muslim
seaman who was saying to him: "Be pure and sincere
and I will transport you." "How can I be pure?"
asked Ikrimah. "Say, I testify that there is no god
but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of
Allah." "I have fled from this very thing," said
Ikrimah. At this point, Umm Hakim came up to Ikrimah
and said: "O cousin, I have come to you from the
most generous of men, the most righteous of men, the
best of men . . . from Muhammad ibn Abdullah. I have
asked him for an amnesty for you. This he has
granted. So do not destroy yourself." "Have you
spoken to him?" "Yes, I have spoken to him and he
has granted you amnesty," she assured him and he
returned with her.
She told him about the attempt of their Greek slave
to dishonour her and Ikrimah went directly to the
Arab settlement where he lay bound and killed him.
At one of their resting places on their way back,
Ikrimah wanted to sleep with his wife but she
vehemently refused and said: "I am a Muslimah and
you are a mushrik." Ikrimah was totally taken aback
and said, "Living without you and without your
sleeping with me is an impossible situation." As
Ikrimah approached Makkah, the Prophet, peace be
upon him, told his companions: "Ikrimah ibn abi Jahl
shall come to you as a believer and a muhajir (a
refugee). Do not insult his father. Insulting the
dead causes grief to the living and does not reach
the dead." Ikrimah and his wife came up to where the
Prophet was sitting. The Prophet got up and greeted
him enthusiastically. "Muhammad," said Ikrimah, "Umm
Hakim has told me that you have granted me an
amnesty." "That's right," said the Prophet, "You are
safe." "To what do you invite?" asked Ikrimah. "I
invite you to testify that there is no god but Allah
and that I am the servant of Allah and His
messenger, to establish Prayer and pay the Zakat and
carry out all the other obligations of Islam." "By
God," responded Ikrimah, "You have only called to
what is true and you
have only commanded that which is good. You lived
among us before the start of your mission and then
you were the most trustworthy of us in speech and
the most righteous of us." Stretching forth his
hands he said, "I testify that there is no god but
Allah and that Muhammad is His servant and His
messenger." The Prophet then instructed him to say,
"I call on God and those present here to witness
that I am a Muslim who is a Mujahid and a Muhajir".
This Ikrimah repeated and then said: "I ask you to
ask God for forgiveness for me for all the hostility
I directed against you and for whatever insults I
expressed in your presence or absence." The Prophet
replied with the prayer: "O Lord, forgive him for
all the hostility he directed against me and for all
the expeditions he mounted wishing to put out Your
light. Forgive him for whatever he has said or done
in my presence or absence to dishonour me."
Ikrimah's face beamed with happiness. "By God, O
messenger of Allah, I promise that whatever I have
spent obstructing the way of God, I shall spend
twice as much in His path and whatever battles I
have fought against God's way I shall fight twice as
much in His way." From that day on, Ikrimah was
committed to the mission of Islam as a brave
horseman in the field of battle and as a steadfast
worshipper who would spend much time in mosques
reading the book of God. Often he would place the
mushaf on his face and say, "The Book of my Lord,
the words of my Lord" and he would cry from the fear
of God.
Ikrimah remained true to his pledge to the Prophet.
Whatever battles the Muslims engaged in thereafter,
he participated in them and he was always in the
vanguard of the army. At the battle of Yarmuk he
plunged into the attack as a thirsty person after
cold water on a blistering hot day. In one encounter
in which the Muslims were under heavy attack,
Ikrimah penetrated deep into the ranks of the
Byzantines. Khalid ibn al-Walid rushed up to him and
said, "Don't, Ikrimah. Your death will be a severe
blow to the Muslims." "Let us carry on, Khalid,"
said Ikrimah, now at the peak of motivation. "You
had the privilege of being with the Messenger of God
before this. As for myself and my father, we were
among his bitterest enemies. Leave me now to atone
for what I have done in the past. I fought the
Prophet on many occasions. Shall I now flee from the
Byzantines? This shall never be." Then calling out
to the Muslims, he shouted, "Who shall pledge to
fight until death?" Four hundred Muslims including
al-Harith ibn Hisham and Ayyash ibn Abi Rabiah
responded to his call. They plunged into the battle
and fought heroically without the leadership of
Khalid ibn al-Walid. Their daring attack paved the
way for a decisive Muslim victory. When the battle
was over, the bodies of three wounded mujahideen lay
sprawled on the battleground, among them Al-Harith
ibn Hisham, Ayyash ibn Abi Rabi'ah and Ikrimah ibn
abi Jahl. Al-Harith called for water to drink. As it
was brought to him, Ayyash looked at him and Harith
said: "Give it to Ayyash." By the time they got to
Ayyash, he had just breathed his last. When they
returned to al-Harith and Ikrimah, they found that
they too had passed away. The companions prayed that
God may be pleased with them all and grant them
refreshment from the spring of Kawthar in Paradise,
a refreshment after which there is thirst no more.
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