Abu Hudhayfah ibn Utbah

Abū Ḥudhayfah ibn ʿUtbah (raḍiyallāhu ʿanhu) was a Muhājir Companion from the Quraysh, the son of ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah, one of the three Qurashī champions who died in the Mubārazah at Badr. His sister was Hind bint ʿUtbah (the wife of Abū Sufyān). He was also the master of Sālim mawlā Abī Ḥudhayfah, one of the most gifted Quran reciters among the ṣaḥābah.

The Battle of Badr (17 Ramaḍān 2 AH) was an extraordinarily painful day for Abū Ḥudhayfah: his father ʿUtbah, his uncle Shaybah ibn Rabīʿah, and his brother al-Walīd ibn ʿUtbah all died in the Mubārazah in the opening moments of the battle. Hours later, when the Prophet ﷺ gave the command that the Banū Hāshim and al-ʿAbbās were not to be killed because they had been forced to come, Abū Ḥudhayfah, still raw with grief, said: 'So our fathers and brothers and uncles will be killed, but the family of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) will not?' This was a human reaction from a man who had just lost three family members, but it was nonetheless a lapse.

When the news reached the Prophet ﷺ, he was with ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb. He called out: 'Yā Abā Ḥafṣ!', this was the first time the Prophet ﷺ ever used this kunyah for ʿUmar, and ʿUmar said it filled his heart. 'Will the face of the uncle of the Prophet be struck with a sword?' The Prophet handled it wisely, expressing his frustration to ʿUmar rather than confronting Abū Ḥudhayfah directly, knowing the emotional state he was in. ʿUmar went and put Abū Ḥudhayfah in place. The Prophet's response showed his mercy: no punishment, no lasting consequence, just a gentle correction routed through a trusted companion.

Abū Ḥudhayfah spent the rest of his life haunted by those words. He would say: 'I shall never feel safe against that one sentence unless Allāh accepts me as a shahīd.' After the battle, when ʿUtbah's body was being dragged to be thrown into the well, the Prophet ﷺ came and consoled him, and Abū Ḥudhayfah said that he grieved not for his father's kufr but because he had known wisdom, nobility, and siyādah in him, and had hoped he would accept Islām.

His duʿāʾ was answered: he died as a shahīd at the Battle of Yamāmah (12 AH) during the Wars of Riddah against Musaylimah al-Kadhdhāb.