Ammar ibn Yasir

ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir رضي الله عنه was the son of Yāsir and Sumayyah, the first family in Islām to face martyrdom. His parents and he were among the earliest Muslims, from the slave or servant class who had no tribal protection in Makkah. Quraysh tortured the family on the burning sands in the midday heat. His mother Sumayyah رضي الله عنها was killed by Abū Jahl, she became the first martyr in Islām. His father Yāsir was also martyred. When the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم passed by the family being tortured, he said: 'Patience, O family of Yāsir, your appointment is Paradise.' ʿAmmār lived on to be a companion of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم for his entire life.

Of all the persecution in Makkah, the family of Yāsir suffered uniquely: they were tortured together, in front of each other. Husband and wife and two sons. The pain of watching your loved ones suffer is worse than any pain to yourself.

ʿAmmār was the youngest, perhaps fifteen. He watched his father Yāsir die. He watched his mother Sumayyah killed by Abū Jahl with a spear. He watched his brother ʿAbdullāh killed. And then they turned on him and he, at fifteen, said what they demanded.

He ran immediately to Dār al-Arqam and arrived weeping: "Yā Rasūlallāh, I said words of kufr!" The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم asked him one question: "How is your heart?" ʿAmmār said: "Firm in Imān, Yā Rasūlallāh." The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said: "Then if they return and do this to you again, do the same."

Allah then revealed in Sūrat al-Naḥl (16:106): مَن كَفَرَ بِاللَّهِ مِن بَعْدِ إِيمَانِهِ إِلَّا مَنْ أُكْرِهَ وَقَلْبُهُ مُطْمَئِنٌّ بِالْإِيمَانِ, "Whoever disbelieves after their faith, except one who is coerced while their heart remains secure in faith, upon them is the wrath of Allah." This verse was given for ʿAmmār. The tongue is not the heart.