Hamza accepts Islam

In the late sixth year of the prophethood, Abu Jahl passed the Prophet at al-Safa, harmed him and reviled him while the Prophet was silent. A freedwoman of Abdullah ibn Jud'an saw it from her dwelling on al-Safa and told Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib when he returned from hunting. Hamza went out to Abu Jahl and struck him with his bow, wounding his head. ^{1 2}

The freedwoman had seen this from her dwelling on al-Safa. Hamza came, the most honoured young man of Quraysh and the most unyielding in temper. He entered the mosque, stood over Abu Jahl and said: "You, with the yellowed backside! Do you revile my nephew while I am on his religion?" Then he struck him with the bow, inflicting a serious wound. Banu Makhzum rose up, and Banu Hashim rose up. Abu Jahl said: "Leave Abu Umara alone, for I cursed his nephew with a vile curse." ³

Hamza's Islam began as the pride of a man who refused to let his protégé be insulted. Then God opened his heart, and he held fast to the faith, and the Muslims were greatly strengthened by him. ^{3 4} The book inclines to the view that he became a Muslim in Dhu al-Hijja of the sixth year. ¹

• The month of Dhu al-Hijja is the book's preference, not an explicit statement. The cause of his Islam, as the book mentions, is a report of pride before his heart was opened.