Hind bint Utbah

Hind bint ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah was the wife of Abū Sufyān ibn Ḥarb and one of the most formidable personalities among the Qurayshī leadership. Her father ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah was killed at the Battle of Badr in the single-combat exchange against Ḥamzah ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, leaving her with a profound personal grief and a burning desire for vengeance.

Approximately one month after the Battle of Badr, when it became known that Zaynab bint Muḥammad (the Prophet's daughter) might be preparing to leave Makkah to join her father in Madinah, Hind visited Zaynab. She offered with apparent generosity to help Zaynab pack her belongings, saying that "women know what women need." In reality, Hind's motivation was political: she wanted to keep the Prophet's daughter in Makkah as a form of leverage over the Prophet ﷺ. Zaynab sensed something was wrong and did not inform Hind of her actual departure plans.

Hind's most notorious act came at the Battle of Uḥud (3 AH), where she is said to have mutilated the body of Ḥamzah ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, the Prophet's uncle and the man who killed her father ʿUtbah. Despite this history of fierce opposition, Hind accepted Islam at the Conquest of Makkah in 8 AH/630 CE and gave her bayʿah (oath of allegiance) to the Prophet ﷺ. She later became known as a sincere Muslim.