At a glance
- Roles
- Companion
- Counted among
- Sunni · Venerated by Twelver Shia
- Era
- The Prophetic Era
- Region
- Arabia
- Identifiers
- Wikidata
- Review
- Draft Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it
Life in time
In space
Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph
Place in the story
- Convert to Islam · c. 616 CETradition
- Companion · c. 616 CE – March 625 CE · Ramadan 3 AH†Tradition
- Family of the ProphetTradition
- Martyr (as regarded) · March 625 CE · Ramadan 3 AH†Tradition
Arabian polytheism (transmitted) · Sunni (transmitted)
How others named them
- “Master of the Martyrs” — Islamic tradition
Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.
Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib (may God be pleased with him) was the Prophet ﷺ's uncle and the bravest horseman of Quraysh. One day he heard that Abu Jahl had harmed the Prophet, so he answered him and declared his Islam — and his faith strengthened the first Muslims. He fought as a champion at Badr and was martyred at Uhud in 625 CE; Muslims call him the master of martyrs.
Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib (may God be pleased with him), the Prophet ﷺ's uncle, was the fiercest man of Quraysh before his Islam. Ibn Hisham tells how he came back from hunting and heard that Abu Jahl had insulted the Prophet, so he struck him with his bow and declared the religion on the spot — and his conversion gave strength to the vulnerable early Muslims. At Badr in 2 AH he fought in the front, and at Uhud in 3 AH (625 CE) Wahshi threw his spear from afar and he was martyred; his body was mutilated in the incident that grieved the Muslims. Muslims call him the Lion of God and the master of martyrs.
Storytellers (10–12) read the Explorers text, then cross to the Scholars text.
Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib (may God be pleased with him) ibn Hashim, the Prophet ﷺ's uncle and foster-brother, was one of Quraysh's hardest men before Islam and among its earliest converts of the elders. The sira tells his conversion: returning from the hunt he heard from a slave woman that Abu Jahl had insulted the Prophet, went to him, struck him with his bow and said 'do you curse him when I am on his religion?' — declaring a faith not yet settled in his heart, which God then made true in the historians' reading. He emigrated to Medina, where the Prophet paired him in brotherhood with Zayd ibn Haritha (may God be pleased with him); at Badr in 2 AH he fought among the champions and received a banner. At Uhud in 3 AH (625 CE) Wahshi ibn Harb — promised freedom by Jubayr ibn Mut'im for Hamza's death — speared him from a distance and he was martyred; Hind bint Utba then mutilated his body in the act the sira treats as its bitterest wound for the Prophet and his companions. For Muslims he is 'the Lion of God and of His messenger' and 'master of the martyrs'; his grave at Uhud is visited today.
Brief
Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib (may God be pleased with him), the uncle of the Prophet and one of the fiercest horsemen of Quraysh. His Islam strengthened the first community, and his death at Uhud in 625 CE made him, in the eyes of Muslims, the Master of the Martyrs.
Life
Close to the Prophet in age 1, he was a hunter and one of the strong men of Mecca. The narrative tells that he embraced Islam around 616 CE out of anger at what he had found done to his nephew. His Islam was public, so that the opponents of the community feared it afterwards 2.
He migrated to Medina and fought with distinction at Badr. At Uhud, in March 625 CE, he was killed by Wahshi ibn Harb, a slave who was freed on account of it 2. After the battle the dead were mutilated, and Hamza's body was among those so treated. The sources record this in a dry tone, and it stayed in memory 3.
Legacy
The title that stayed with him in Muslim memory is "Master of the Martyrs" (sayyid al-shuhada), an uncle whose strength stood between his nephew and those who wished him harm.
For young visitors
Hamza was the Prophet's uncle and his strongest protector. When he died in the battle, the whole community wept for him.
The Prophet's foster-brother twice over (al-Raheeq al-Makhtum p.55)
Thuwayba, freedwoman of Abu Lahab, nursed Hamza before she nursed the Prophet. Hamza was also nursed in Banu Sa'd ibn Bakr, where his mother there nursed the Prophet one day while the Prophet was with Halima. So Hamza was the Prophet's foster-brother in two ways: through Thuwayba and through the woman of Sa'd 4 5 6. The book counts him the fifth of the ten sons of Abd al-Muttalib 7.
The expedition of Sif al-Bahr (al-Raheeq al-Makhtum p.197)
The Prophet put him in command of thirty men of the emigrants who were to intercept a caravan of Quraysh carrying Abu Jahl. When the two groups met, Majdi ibn Amr al-Juhani came between them, and they did not fight. Hamza's banner was the first banner the Prophet tied (the expedition of Sif al-Bahr) 8.
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Connections
- Sibling of
- al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib· Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib· Arwa bint Abd al-Muttalib· Safiyya bint Abd al-Muttalib
- Born in
- Mecca
- Died in
- Mount Uhud
- Buried in
- Mount Uhud
- Child of
- Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim
- Member of
- Banu Hashim· The early Muslim community
- Participated in
- The Battle of Badr· The Battle of Uhud· The day of Badr: the lines, the duels and the victory· The duel at Badr· Expedition of al-Abwa (Waddan)· Expedition of Dhu al-Ushayra· Expedition of Sayf al-Bahr· Hamza accepts Islam· Umar accepts Islam· Siege of Banu Qaynuqa· Battle over the Quraysh standard at Uhud· Burial of the Uhud martyrs· Martyrdom of Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib at Uhud· Uhud war council and Muslim mobilization
- Fought by
- Wahshi ibn Harb
People and things also explored
Muhammad· The Battle of Uhud· The Prophetic Era· al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib· Mecca· Quraysh· Mus'ab ibn Umayr· Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim
Sources
- Ibn Sa'd, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir (Bewley translation, Ta-Ha)
- Ibn Ishaq / Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad (1955)
- Watt, Muhammad at Medina (1956)
- al-Raheeq al-Makhtum — Safi al-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri , p.55
- Talqih Fuhum Ahl al-Athr — Ibn al-Jawzi , p.4
- Zad al-Ma'ad — Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya , 1/19
- al-Raheeq al-Makhtum — Safi al-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri , p.52
- al-Raheeq al-Makhtum — Safi al-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri , p.197
- Sahih al-Bukhari
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/hamza/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-26.