Wahshi ibn Harb

Waḥshī ibn Ḥarb was an Abyssinian slave owned by Jubayr ibn Muṭ'im of the Quraysh. He was an expert javelin thrower. At the Battle of Uḥud (3 AH), Jubayr promised him his freedom if he killed Ḥamzah ibn 'Abd al-Muṭṭalib, in revenge for Ḥamzah having killed Jubayr's uncle Ṭu'aymah ibn 'Adiyy at Badr. Waḥshī tracked Ḥamzah throughout the battle, hiding behind cover, until the moment Ḥamzah had just struck down a Qurashī and lowered his sword. Waḥshī stepped out and hurled his javelin from behind with such force that it passed entirely through Ḥamzah's body. Ḥamzah turned to face him but collapsed before he could raise his sword. Waḥshī retrieved his javelin and did not participate further, his only goal was freedom. He later accepted Islam but struggled with alcohol throughout his life; the Caliph ʿUmar punished him multiple times. He redeemed himself during the Wars of Apostasy by using the same javelin to kill Musaylimah al-Kadhdhāb, which he considered his kaffārah for killing Ḥamzah. In old age, nearly blind and living in Iraq, he narrated the full first-person account of Ḥamzah's killing to two Tābiʿūn visitors, preserved in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī.