The Conversion of Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahl

Shaykh Yasir Qadhi explains:

ʿIkrimah, son of Abū Jahl, "the Pharaoh of this Ummah", was first on the list of those denied amnesty, and he deserved it. When his skirmish at the Conquest failed he fled at once: to Jeddah, and onto a ship bound for Abyssinia and exile. But a storm seized the ship, and the captain, himself a pagan, cried that they would surely drown, and that now, honestly, was the time to call on Allāh alone, "for you and I both know our idols will not help us here."

"That," said ʿIkrimah, "was when it struck me: if our gods cannot help us when we need them most, why should we worship them when we are at ease?" After a lifetime of idolatry the truth of لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّه came clear, a reminder how genuinely these people believed their idols living and able to answer, and how hard it is to leave the faith one is born into. He vowed that if Allāh saved him he would go to His Messenger ﷺ and find him forgiving. Allāh saved him. He returned, wrapped his face against those who would have killed him, and stood before the Prophet ﷺ: أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّكَ رَسُولُ اللَّه. The Prophet ﷺ accepted his Islam, and ʿIkrimah, the son of the Ummah's Pharaoh, later died a martyr fighting the Romans.