Umayr ibn al-Humam

ʿUmayr ibn al-Ḥumām al-Anṣārī (raḍiyallāhu ʿanhu) was one of the Khazrajī Companions and one of the very few Muslims, approximately thirteen or fourteen in total, who died as shuhudāʾ at the Battle of Badr (17 Ramaḍān 2 AH). He holds a unique honor: he is the first or among the first of those Badr shuhudāʾ, and the Badriyūn are the elite of the Companions.

His story is one of the most beautiful moments of the battle's opening. When both armies began charging toward each other, the Prophet ﷺ called out to his Companions: 'Qūmū ilā jannatin ʿarḍuhā ka-ʿarḍi as-samāʾi wa-l-arḍ', Stand up for a Jannah whose width spans the heavens and the earth.

ʿUmayr was at that moment eating some dates to fortify himself before battle. When he heard the Prophet's ﷺ words, he said: 'Bakhin bakhin!', an old classical Arabic expression used to express something being made to seem trivial. The Prophet ﷺ asked: 'Mah? What do you mean by that?' ʿUmayr said: 'Yā Rasūlallāh, a Jannah whose width is between the heavens and the earth? If this is the truth, then what use is it for me to remain living here? I want to be of those who reach that Jannah.' The Prophet ﷺ said: 'Anta min ahlihā, you are of those people.'

Upon hearing this, ʿUmayr threw away the dates he was eating and said: 'If I live long enough to finish these dates, it is too long a life.' He immediately stood, charged into the Qurashī army, and was martyred. He died fulfilling that charge, giving up even the moments it would have taken to finish a handful of dates in order to reach Jannah faster.