Muadh ibn Amr al-Jumooh

Muʿādh ibn ʿAmr al-Jumūḥ (raḍiyallāhu ʿanhu) was a young Anṣārī Companion from the Banū Salamah clan of the Khazraj. His father ʿAmr al-Jumūḥ was one of the leaders of Banū Salamah. Muʿādh was among the younger participants who gave the oath at the Second Bayʿat al-ʿAqabah, making him approximately 15–16 years old at the time of Badr.

He and Muʿawwidh ibn ʿAfrāʾ had a private competition: each had sworn to kill Abū Jahl and neither wanted the other to reach him first. ʿAbdur Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf (raḍiyallāhu ʿanhu), who was standing between them in the battle line, has left an eyewitness account in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. He had initially been disappointed to find two scrawny teenagers on either side of him, until each one separately whispered in his ear asking if he knew where Abū Jahl was.

When ʿAbdur Raḥmān pointed out Abū Jahl standing in a protected grove of trees, surrounded by men and guarded specifically by his son ʿIkrimah ibn Abī Jahl, both boys darted straight through the army. Their youth was their cover: they were unknown, unrecognized, and easily overlooked by the Qurashī fighters in between.

Muʿādh got there first. Unable to reach Abū Jahl's upper body, either because of the distance or because of the men surrounding him, he leaped and brought his sword crashing down with full force on Abū Jahl's left leg, severing it completely at the thigh. A narrator described it: 'the only comparison I can think of is how a date seed flies out of the grinder.' At that same instant, ʿIkrimah ibn Abī Jahl, defending his father, swung his sword and cut off Muʿādh's entire right arm at the shoulder. The arm hung by a thin strand of skin. Rather than stop, Muʿādh put his foot on the dangling arm, ripped it off, and continued fighting with his left hand.

After the battle, both Muʿādh and Muʿawwidh came to the Prophet ﷺ each claiming to be the one who killed Abū Jahl. The Prophet ﷺ asked them to show him their swords, examined both, and said: 'Both of you have killed him.' According to Islamic fiqh, the personal belongings (salb) of a killed enemy go to the one who killed him. Since Muʿawwidh died as a shahīd in the battle, the entire salb of Abū Jahl, his armor, sword, and horse, all went to Muʿādh. It was a fortune.

Muʿādh survived the Battle of Badr, lived a long life with one arm, and died a natural death during the khilāfah of ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān (raḍiyallāhu ʿanhu). He is sometimes confused with the more famous Muʿādh ibn Jabal, Dr. Qadhi explicitly notes they are different people.