Martyrdom of Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib at Uhud

Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib — the Prophet's ﷺ uncle and milk brother, the Lion of Allah, the greatest warrior of early Islam — was martyred at the Battle of Uhud in 3 AH by a javelin thrown by Wahshi ibn Harb. Wahshi was an Abyssinian slave owned by Jubayr ibn Mut'im, hired specifically by Hind bint Utbah to kill Hamza — because Hamza had killed her father Utbah ibn Rabia in single combat at Badr the previous year. Hind promised Wahshi his freedom in exchange for Hamza's death. Wahshi tracked Hamza throughout the battle without engaging anyone else, waited for the right moment behind a rock, and threw his weighted javelin. It struck Hamza in the lower abdomen with lethal force. Hamza tried to rise and move toward his attacker but fell from blood loss. His contract fulfilled, Wahshi recovered his javelin and left the field. After the battle ended with the Muslim formation in disarray, Hind moved through the field of the dead. When she found Hamza's body, she cut off his nose and ears, fashioned them into ornaments to wear, split open his chest, and attempted to eat his liver — which, according to the hadith narrations, she could not swallow. When the Prophet ﷺ came upon his uncle's body — disfigured, his chest opened — he wept with visible intensity. He said he would take retaliatory mutilation of seventy Qurayshi dead, but the revelation of Surah al-Nahl (16:126) descended commanding restraint: 'If you punish, punish with the equivalent of what was done to you — but if you are patient, that is better for the patient.' He chose patience. He buried Hamza at Uhud with the other martyrs. The Prophet ﷺ prayed the funeral prayer over Hamza seventy times — returning to his body after each of the other martyrs — and named him Asad Allah wa-Asad Rasulih (the Lion of Allah and the Lion of His Messenger) and Sayyid al-Shuhada (the Master of the Martyrs). Wahshi converted to Islam years later and met the Prophet ﷺ, who told him: 'Can you hide your face from me?' — he could not bear to see the man who had killed Hamza. Wahshi moved away out of respect and lived as a Muslim. Hind bint Utbah herself accepted Islam at the conquest of Mecca and received the Prophet's ﷺ pardon — one of the most extraordinary examples of prophetic forgiveness in the seerah.