Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib
Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib (; ) was an Arab Muslim military commander in the service of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He was the first Muslim to have led an expedition. A prominent horsemen of the Quraysh tribe's aristocratic clan Hashim, Hamza participated in the Fijar Wars against the Qays tribe. Following his conversion to Islam in 615, he became a leading commander of the Muslims against the Mushrikun. In 623, Hamza was assigned by Muhammad to lead the first Muslim expedition to Mecca, which resulted in an intercession by a third party. In 624, Hamza  played an instrumental role in defeating the Mushrikun and also killed the leading opposition commander Utba ibn Rabiah. In March 625 (Shawwal 3 AH), Hamza participated in the Battle of Uhud in which he was killed by Wahshi ibn Harb, an Abyssinian slave of Jubayr ibn Mut'im. His "kunyas" were "Abū ʿUmārah" () and "Abū Yaʿlā" (). He had the by-names "Asad Allāh" (, "Lion of God") and "Asad al-Jannah" (, "Lion of Heaven"), and Muhammad gave him the posthumous title "Sayyid ash-Shuhadāʾ" (). Origins and early life. Ibn Sa'd basing his claim on al-Waqidi states that Hamzah was reportedly four  years older than Muhammad. This is disputed by Ibn Sayyid, who argues: "Zubayr narrated that Hamza was four years older than the Prophet. But this does not seem correct, because reliable hadith state that Thuwayba nursed both Hamza and the Prophet." Ibn Sayyid concludes that Hamza was only two years older than Muhammad۔ Ibn Hajar writes as a conclusion of Ibn Sayyid's hadiths: "Hamza was born two to four years before Muhammad". Ibn Kathir in "Al-Sira Al-Nabawiyya" cites Abu Nu`aym who traces a hadith to Ibn Abbas, that after Abdul Mutallib went to Yemen, he stayed with  a Jewish priest. A monk prophesised that he will have both power and prophethood and advised him to marry a woman of the Banu Zuhrah. After returning to Mecca, he did so by marrying Hala, a woman of the tribe, and she birthed Hamza. Later, Abdullah married Aminah and the Quraysh said he had won out in terms of marriage. Hamza was skilled in wrestling, archery and fighting. He was fond of hunting lions, and he is described as "the strongest man of the Quraysh, and the most unyielding". Family. Parents. Hamzah's(R.A) father was Abdul Muttalib ibn Hashim ibn Abd  Manaf ibn Qusayy from the Qurayshi tribe of Mecca. His mother was Hala bint Uhayb from the Zuhra clan of Quraysh. Tabari cites two different traditions. In one, Al-Waqidi states that his parents met when Abdul Muttalib went with his son Abdullah to the house of Wahb ibn 'Abd Manaf to seek the hand of Wahb's daughter Aminah. While they were there, Abdul-Muttalib noticed Wahb's niece, Hala bint Uhayb, and he asked for her hand as well. Wahb agreed, and Muhammad's father Abdullah and his grandfather Abdul-Muttalib were both married on the same day , in a double-marriage ceremony. However, this in McDonald, M. V. (1988). Volume VI: "Muhammad at Mecca", pp. 5-8. New York: State University of New York Press.</ref> Hence, Hamzah was the younger brother of Muhammad's father. Marriages and children. Hamza married three times and had six children. Conversion to Islam. Hamza took little notice of Islam for the first few years. He converted in late 616AD. Upon returning to Mecca after a hunting trip in the desert, he heard that Amr ibn Hishām (referred in Islamic scriptures as "Abu Jahl") had "attacked the Prophet and abused and  insulted him," "speaking spitefully of his religion and trying to bring him into disrepute". Muhammad had not replied to him. "Filled with rage," Hamza "went out at a run ... meaning to punish Abu Hishām when he met him". He entered the Kaaba, where Abu Hishām was sitting with the elders, stood over him and "struck him a violent blow" with his bow. He said, "Will you insult him, when I am of his religion and say what he says? Hit me back if you can!" He "struck Abu Jahl's head with a blow that cut open his head". Some  of Abu Hishām's relatives approached to help him, but he told them, "Leave Abu Umara [Hamza] alone, for, by God, I insulted his nephew deeply". After that incident, Hamza entered the House of Al-Arqam and declared Islam. "Hamza’s Islam was complete, and he followed the Apostle's commands. When he became a Muslim, the Quraysh recognised that the Apostle had become strong, and had found a protector in Hamza, and so they abandoned some of their ways of harassing him". Instead, they tried to strike bargains with him; but he did not accept their offers. Hamza once  asked Muhammad to show him the angel Jibreel in his true form. Muhammad told Hamza that he would not be able to see him. Hamza retorted that he would see the angel, so Muhammad told him to sit where he was. They claimed that Jibreel descended before them and that Hamza saw that Jibreel's feet were like emeralds, before falling down unconscious. Hamza joined the general emigration to Madina. But the difference between him and the other Sahabas was that he announced his emigration openly. Military expeditions. First expedition. Muhammad sent Hamza on his first raid against Quraysh. Hamza  led an expedition of thirty riders to the coast in Juhayna territory to intercept a merchant-caravan returning from Syria. Hamza met Abu Hishām at the head of the caravan with three hundred riders at the seashore. Majdi ibn Amr al-Juhani intervened between them, "for he was at peace with both parties," and the two parties separated without any fighting. There is dispute as to whether Hamza or his nephew Ubaydah ibn al-Harith was the first Muslim to whom Muhammad gave a flag. Battle of Badr. Hamza fought at the Battle of Badr, where he shared a camel  with Zayd ibn Harithah and where his distinctive ostrich feather made him highly visible. The Muslims blocked the wells at Badr. Al-Aaswad ibn Abdalasad al-Makhzumi, who was a quarrelsome ill-natured man, stepped forth and said, "I swear to God that I will drink from their cistern or destroy it or die before reaching it". Hamza came forth against him, and when the two met, Hamza smote him and sent his foot and half his shank flying as he was near the cistern. He fell on his back and lay there, blood streaming from his foot towards his  comrades. Then he crawled to the cistern and threw himself into it with the purpose of fulfilling his oath, but Hamza followed him and smote him and killed him in the cistern". He then killed Utbah ibn Rabi'ah in single combat, helped by Ali who kill Utbah's brother Shayba. It is disputed whether it was Hamza or Ali who killed Tuwayma ibn Adiy. Later Hamza carried Muhammad's banner in the expedition against the Banu Qaynuqa. Death. Hamza was killed in the Battle of Uhud on Saturday 23 March 625 (7 Shawwal 3 hijri) when he was 57-59  years old. He was standing in front of Muhammad, fighting with two swords and then Abyssinian slave Wahshi ibn Harb with a promise of manumission from Hind bint Utbah, if he killed Hamza. This was to revenge her father, Utbah ibn Rabi'ah, whom Hamza had killed in Badr. Hamza, running back and forth, stumbled and fell on his back; and Wahshi said, "who could throw a javelin as the Abyssinians do and seldom missed the mark," threw it into Hamza's abdomen and martyred him. Wahshi then slit open his stomach and brought his liver to Hind bint Utbah, whose  father Hamza had killed at Badr (see above). Hind chewed Hamza's liver then spat it out. "Then she went and mutilated Hamza and made anklets, necklaces and pendants from his body, and brought him and his liver to Mecca". Hamza was buried in the same grave (, "") as his nephew Abdullah ibn Jahsh. Muhammad later said, "I saw the angels washing Hamza because he was in Paradise on that day". Fatima used to go to Hamza's grave and tend it.