ʿUthmān ibn Maẓʿūn, Walīd's Protection, and the Poet Labīd

When the first batch of Abyssinian emigrants returned to Mecca on a false rumor that Quraysh had accepted Islām, each person had to find new tribal protection to re-enter, they had effectively canceled their membership in their own sub-tribes by emigrating.

ʿUthmān ibn Maẓʿūn (رضي الله عنه), one of the famous early companions who would later die as a shahīd, reached out to his old acquaintance Al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah. Al-Walīd was arguably the most powerful man in Mecca, a rival of Abū Jahl, and the man about whom Sūrat al-Muddaththir was revealed: "Leave Me and the one I created alone... and I gave him extensive wealth and sons as witnesses... He thought and he deliberated..." (74:11-18). He is also the father of the great commander Khālid ibn al-Walīd.

Al-Walīd agreed to offer his jiwār (protection) to ʿUthmān and made a public announcement at the Kaʿbah to that effect. With Al-Walīd's guarantee behind him, not a hair on ʿUthmān's head was touched.

But as days passed and ʿUthmān walked through Mecca, seeing Bilāl tortured under boulders, Khabbāb burned with heated iron, the weaker Muslims unable to resist persecution, his conscience overwhelmed him. He went to Al-Walīd and said: "My uncle, please take your protection back. I cannot bear to see my brothers and sisters suffer while I have this freedom."

Al-Walīd tried to dissuade him. Had anyone wronged him? Had Al-Walīd not fulfilled his duty? ʿUthmān held firm. He was not accusing Al-Walīd of failure, he simply felt the weight of privilege when others suffered. Al-Walīd relented and made another public announcement at the Kaʿbah, withdrawing the protection at ʿUthmān's own request. ʿUthmān publicly affirmed this was not due to any fault of Al-Walīd's.

Walking home, ʿUthmān passed a majlis where the celebrated visiting poet Labīd ibn Rabīʿah al-ʿĀmirī was reciting to a packed audience of Quraysh dignitaries. Labīd was a poet of extraordinary prestige, one of the composers of the Muʿallaqāt, the prize odes displayed at the Kaʿbah. He had been invited to recite at a festival.

Labīd recited a famous line:

Alā kullu shayʾin mā khalā Allāha bāṭilu

(أَلَا كُلُّ شَيْءٍ مَا خَلَا اللَّٰهَ بَاطِلُ)

"Verily, everything other than Allāh is useless."

ʿUthmān responded spontaneously: "Ṣadaqta, you have spoken truth." Everything besides Allāh is indeed useless. (The Prophet ﷺ later said this line was the most truthful statement any poet had ever said, and even quoted it himself, one of very few lines of poetry he recited.)

Then Labīd continued the second half of the stanza:

wa kullu naʿīmin lā maḥālata zāʾilu

(وَكُلُّ نَعِيمٍ لَا مَحَالَةَ زَائِلُ)

"And every pleasure will without doubt come to an end."

Here ʿUthmān objected: "Kadhabta, you have lied. The pleasures of Jannah will never come to an end."

Labīd had no idea what was happening. He was the VIP guest, surrounded by Quraysh nobility, reciting his greatest work, and this man was heckling him. He turned to the audience: "Since when is this how you treat your guests?" The tension broke into violence. Someone in the crowd stood and struck ʿUthmān hard across the face, leaving his left eye completely swollen shut.

When Al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah heard what had happened, he rushed to ʿUthmān's house and offered to restore his protection immediately. ʿUthmān replied with one of the most quoted lines in the Seerah:

"Verily, my other eye is now in need of the same blessing that this eye has received."

He refused to return under Al-Walīd's protection. He remained without protection by choice.

Speaker's note: The speaker emphasizes that ʿUthmān's position was not sinful, having protection is not forbidden. But some companions were at a level where accepting privilege while others suffered was emotionally unbearable. He also draws a distinction: this shows people are at different levels. There is no blanket condemnation of those who did keep protection (as some prominent companions did). ʿUthmān simply could not live with the imbalance.