Amr ibn al-Jamuh

عمرو بن الجموح

A chief of the Ansar from Banu Salima, who kept a wooden idol in his house until he embraced Islam, after the young men of his clan threw it repeatedly into the dung pits; Ibn al-Kalbi says he was the last of the Ansar to become Muslim; the Prophet ﷺ told Banu Salima 'rather, your chief is Amr ibn al-Jamuh (may God be pleased with him)', and he gave the wedding feast when the Prophet married; he was killed at Uhud.

Depth

At a glance

Roles
Companion
Counted among
Sunni
Era
The Prophetic Era
Region
Arabia
Identifiers
Wikidata
Review
Draft Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it

Converts and those who leaveBattles

Place in the story

  • CompanionTradition

Sunni (transmitted)

Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.

Summary

Amr ibn al-Jamuh (jim unvowelled-fatha, mim lightened) ibn Zayd ibn Haram al-Salami al-Ansari, "one of the Ansar's chiefs, martyred at Uhud" 1. He is of Banu Salama 1.

His idol and his Islam

Ibn Ishaq relates in al-Maghazi that he was a chief among Banu Salama's chiefs and a noble of their nobles, and had set up in his house a wooden idol he venerated; when the lads of Banu Salama — his son Mu'adh and Mu'adh ibn Jabal among them — became Muslim, they would go in on his idol and throw it into one of Banu Salama's pits. Amr would find it face-down in the filth, wash and perfume it, then hang his sword on it saying: "if there is good in you, defend yourself" — so they took a dead dog, bound it round its neck and took the sword; he rose to find it so, "saw his right guidance and became Muslim" 1. Ibn al-Kalbi said Amr ibn al-Jamuh was the last of the Ansar to become Muslim 1.

Chief of Banu Salama

Bukhari in al-Adab al-Mufrad, al-Sirraj and Abu Nu'aym relate through Abu al-Zubayr from Jabir that the Prophet said to Banu Salama: "who is your chief?" They said: al-Jadd ibn Qays — though we think him a miser. He said: "and what disease is worse than miserliness? Nay, your chief is Amr ibn al-Jamuh." Jabir said: and Amr would feast for the Prophet whenever he married 1. Ibn Hajar then gives the report's other chains through Ibn Uyayna, Abu Hurayra (may God be pleased with him), Anas, al-Sha'bi and Habib ibn Abi Thabit (mursal), and verses some Ansar spoke on it 2.

Connections

Explore the connections

Member of
The Ansar· Banu Salima
Parent of
Mu'adh ibn Amr ibn al-Jamuh
Participated in
The Battle of Uhud

People and things also explored

The early Muslim community· The Battle of Badr· The Ansar· Abu Dujana· Abu Talha al-Ansari· al-Bara' ibn Azib· al-Bara' ibn Malik· Fadala ibn Ubayd

Sources

  1. al-Isaba fi tamyiz al-sahaba — Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani , p. 1091
  2. al-Isaba fi tamyiz al-sahaba — Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani , p. 1092
  • Wafa al-Wafa bi-akhbar dar al-Mustafa — al-Samhudi (older print)
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Amr ibn al-Jamuh”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/amr-ibn-al-jamuh/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-19.

Improve this page on GitHub · Report an error · JSON

Wing

People

Prophets, companions, scholars, rulers, scientists, poets, travelers: women and men who shaped the story.
Related

The early Muslim community

The first generation of believers gathered around the Prophet in Mecca and Medina — the persecuted handful of the first decade that became the founding community of Islam.