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Abdullah ibn Khatal

عَبْد اللَّه بْن خَطَل

ʿAbdullāh ibn Khaṭal

Biography

A man who had embraced Islam and emigrated, then, sent on an errand with a Companion, murdered his fellow, seized his goods, and fled back to Mecca an apostate. There he bought two singing slave-girls and set them to compose verse mocking the Prophet , the sharpest propaganda of the age. Named among the handful denied amnesty at the Conquest, he fled to the Kaʿbah and clung to its covering; when the Companions hesitated the Prophet commanded, اقْتُلُوهُ, "kill him", and he was executed on the spot (also given as Ibn al-Akhtal).

Significance

One of the few not spared at the Conquest, killed at the Kaʿbah for apostasy, murder, and inciting slander against the Prophet ﷺ.

Historical context