Shurahbil ibn Amr
شُرَحْبِيل بْن عَمْروShuraḥbīl ibn ʿAmr
Biography
Shuraḥbīl ibn ʿAmr al-Ghassānī was the chieftain of the Ghassānids, an Arab Christian tribe of Yemeni origin settled in Roman Syria and serving as Rome's Arab vassals. When the Prophet's ﷺ envoy al-Ḥārith ibn ʿUmayr al-Azdī arrived carrying a letter for Heraclius, Shuraḥbīl had him bound, tortured, and personally killed him with his own hands, a flagrant violation of the near-universal custom of not harming ambassadors. This act is identified as the primary cause of the Battle of Mu'tah.
Significance
His personal killing of an unarmed envoy, a serious breach of diplomatic custom even by the standards of the time, was the primary provocation behind the Battle of Mu'tah.