Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah

Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah (c. 583-639 CE / d. 18 AH) was one of the ten companions explicitly promised Paradise by the Prophet ﷺ and one of the most trusted and beloved companions in the early Muslim community. His full name was Amir ibn Abdullah ibn al-Jarrah, and he was from the Quraysh tribe of Banu al-Harith ibn Fihr. He accepted Islam in the very early days, among the first group to take the shahada through Abu Bakr al-Siddiq. At the Battle of Badr, he found himself in combat against his own father — who had remained a disbeliever — and killed him, an act that the Quran later praised as evidence of the companions' unwavering priority of faith over kinship. At the Battle of Uhud, when the Prophet ﷺ was wounded and had the rings of his helmet embedded in his face, Abu Ubayda pulled them out with his teeth — losing two of his own teeth in the process — to spare the Prophet further pain. The Prophet ﷺ said of him: 'Every nation has a trustworthy one, and the trustworthy one of this Ummah is Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah.' He was offered the caliphate by Abu Bakr but declined, directing the pledge toward Abu Bakr himself. During the caliphate of Umar, he was appointed supreme commander of the Muslim armies in the Levant (Syria and Palestine), overseeing the pivotal conquests of Damascus, Jerusalem, and much of the Byzantine-controlled Levant. He governed the Levant with justice and simplicity, living in the same modest conditions as his soldiers. He died of the plague of Amwas in 18 AH / 639 CE — one of the great tragedies of early Islam, which also claimed the lives of many senior companions. His death deeply grieved Umar ibn al-Khattab, who considered him one of the most indispensable men of the ummah.