Abu Dujana

Abū Dujānah Simāk ibn Kharashah al-Anṣārī al-Khazrajī was one of the most fearsome warriors among the Anṣār of Madinah. Before Islam he had established a legendary reputation in combat, and he possessed a famous blood-red turban known as the Turban of Death (ʿImāmat al-Mawt). He would don it only in the most intense moments of battle, walking with a slow, proud, swaggering gait that declared his readiness to die.

At the Battle of Uḥud (15 Shawwāl 3 AH), when the Prophet ﷺ raised his sword and asked, 'Who will take this sword from me with its right?', many companions surged forward, including Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām, but the Prophet ﷺ repeated: 'With its right (biḥaqqihi), who will fight with it until it breaks?' Abū Dujānah stepped forward: 'I will take it with that right, yā Rasūlallāh.' He then donned his Turban of Death, unsheathed the sword, and walked in front of the Qurayshi army in his slow, proud gait.

The Prophet ﷺ said: 'This type of walking (mishyah), Allah despises it, except at such a time and such a place.' In other words: on the battlefield, before the enemy, this display of fearlessness has a sanctioned purpose.

Abū Dujānah was among the fiercest fighters in the initial Muslim assault at Uḥud that broke through the Qurayshi lines and forced even the Qurayshi women to flee. He is also reported to have shielded the Prophet ﷺ with his own back when the arrows were raining down during the crisis phase of Uḥud.