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The cousin turned away, and received
On the road toward Madinah, in the days shortly before the opening of Makkah.
On the road between Makkah and MadinahShortly before the opening of Makkah, 8 AH1 min read
Abu Sufyan ibn al-Harith set out with his cousin Abdullah ibn Umayyah to find the Prophet ﷺ and accept Islam, at a point when it had become plain to a great many people in Makkah which way matters were going.
The reception was not warm. Both men had given real offence over the years — Abu Sufyan with his verse, Abdullah ibn Umayyah with his own opposition — and the Prophet ﷺ is reported to have turned away from them rather than receive them at once.
Umm Salamah, the Prophet's ﷺ wife, spoke on their behalf. She reminded him that Abu Sufyan was his cousin and, by report, his foster-brother, and put it to him that he should not be harder on his own relative than the prophet Yusuf had been on the brothers who had wronged him.
The Prophet ﷺ received them, and Abu Sufyan accepted Islam. He is reported to have composed verse afterwards regretting the years he had spent against him, though the wording is not settled between the versions and none of it is reproduced here.
In this moment: Umm Salamah, The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, Abdullah ibn Umayyah
Sources & review
Draft content — undergoing reviewThis content was written for SahabaMate and has not yet been checked by a reviewer against the works below. Treat it as a starting point, not a citation.
As-Sirah an-Nabawiyyahالسيرة النبوية
Classical biography · Ibn Hisham, from the recension of Ibn Ishaq
Al-Isabah fi Tamyiz as-Sahabahالإصابة في تمييز الصحابة
Classical biography · Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani
Companions of the Prophet
Modern biography · Abdul Wahid Hamid
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