Utba ibn Ghazwan al-Mazini ( ar, عُتبة بن غَزْوان المازني, ʿUtba ibn Ghazwān al-Māzinī) (–638) was a well-known companion of the Islamic prophet

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...

. He was the seventh person to convert to Islam and participated in the ''

hijra Hijra, Hijrah, Hegira, Hejira, Hijrat or Hijri may refer to: Islam * Hijrah (often written as ''Hejira'' in older texts), the migration of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE * Migration to Abyssinia or First Hegira, of Muhammad's followers ...

'' to

Abyssinia The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that historica ...

, but returned to stay with Muhammad in

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow ...

before making the second ''hijrah'' to

Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the ...

. He fought at the battle of Badr (624), the battle of Uhud (625), the Battle of the Trench (627) and many others, including the battles of Yamamah. During the

caliphate A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

Umar ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ( ar, عمر بن الخطاب, also spelled Omar, ) was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate ...

(r. 634–644), Utba commanded a force of 2,000 men in a campaign against Ubullah which lasted from June through September 635. Once Uballah was occupied, Utba sent a force across the

Tigris River The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the P ...

which occupied the district of Furat, followed by Meisan and Abarqubaz. He was soon appointed governor of

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is han ...

(

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

) by the

caliph A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

. In 639 Utba left for the

Hijaz The Hejaz (, also ; ar, ٱلْحِجَاز, al-Ḥijāz, lit=the Barrier, ) is a region in the west of Saudi Arabia. It includes the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif, and Baljurashi. It is also known as the "Western Provi ...

to perform hajj and to request Umar to relieve him of his office as governor. Umar refused, but while returning to Basra, Utba fell from his camel and died. He was succeeded by al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah as governor.

Origins and companion of Muhammad

Utba born , the son of Ghazwan ibn al-Harith ibn Jabir. He belonged to the Banu Mazin, a minor clan from the Mansur ibn Ikrima branch of the

Qays Qays ʿAylān ( ar, قيس عيلان), often referred to simply as Qays (''Kais'' or ''Ḳays'') were an Arab tribal confederation that branched from the Mudar group. The tribe does not appear to have functioned as a unit in the pre-Islamic e ...

tribe in the Hejaz (western Arabia). Utba was a confederate of the

Banu Nawfal ) , type = Qurayshi / Adnanite Arab Tribe , image = , alt = , caption = Banner of Banu Taym , nisba = Al-Nawfal () , location = Western Arabian Peninsula, especially in Mecca (present-day Saudi Arabia) , descen ...

clan of the Quraysh tribe of

. He became an early convert to Islam and companion of the Islamic prophet

. He was known to be the seventh person to embrace Islam and he participated in the two Muslim emigrations from Mecca to Abyssinia, as well as playing combat roles in the Battle of Badr and several of the raids led or ordered by Muhammad. Utba was married to a daughter of al-Harith ibn Kalada of the Banu Thaqif; according to

al-Baladhuri ʾAḥmad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Jābir al-Balādhurī ( ar, أحمد بن يحيى بن جابر البلاذري) was a 9th-century Muslim historian. One of the eminent Middle Eastern historians of his age, he spent most of his life in Baghdad and e ...

her name was Azda, while according to

al-Mada'ini Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn Abī Sayf al-Qurashī l-Madāʾinī () (752/3–843), better known by his '' nisba'' of al-Madāʾinī ("from al-Mada'in"), was a scholar of Iranian descent who wrote in Arabic and was active ...

her name was Safiyya.

Conquest of Iraq

During the caliphate of

Abu Bakr Abu Bakr Abdallah ibn Uthman Abi Quhafa (; – 23 August 634) was the senior companion and was, through his daughter Aisha, a father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, as well as the first caliph of Islam. He is known with the honor ...

(), the Muslims led by Khalid ibn al-Walid may have launched their first campaigns against the Sasanian Persians in lower Mesopotamia (Iraq), but these their gains were short-lived or limited. Abu Bakr's successor

() dispatched Utba to this front from the capital at

, which marked the commencement of the definitive conquest of Iraq. His force was relatively small, ranging from 300 to 2,000 men, according to the medieval Arabic sources. Its ranks were dominated by members of the Banu Thaqif, with whom Utba had marital links, and partly consisted of nomadic Arab tribesmen who joined Utba's army while it was on the move. Utba launched an assault against the town of

Ubulla Al-Ubulla ( ar, الأبلة), called Apologou ( gr, 'Απολόγου 'Εμπόριον) by the Greeks in the pre-Islamic period, was a port city at the head of the Persian Gulf east of Basra in present-day Iraq. In the medieval period, it served ...

and its 500-strong garrison of Persian cavalry. He set up camp at a nearby village called Khurayba, then bested Ubulla's defenders and occupied and plundered the town. He installed one of his lieutenants, his brother-in-law Nafi ibn al-Harith ibn Kalada, to guard the town, which he used as a base of operations against other Sasanian positions in the area. He and/or his lieutenant commanders

al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba Abu Abd Allah al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba ibn Abi Amir ibn Mas'ud al-Thaqafi ( ar, المغيرة بن شعبة بن أبي عامر بن مسعود الثقفي, Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Mughīra ibn Shuʿba ibn Abī ʿĀmir ibn Masʿūd al-Thaqafī); –6 ...

and Mujashi ibn Mas'ud al-Sulami thereafter captured the towns of al-Furat and

Maysan , image_map = Maysan in Iraq.svg , mapsize = 200px , settlement_type = Governorate , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_t ...

and the districts of Abazqubadh and Dast Maysan, all located along the lower Tigris river banks.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Utba ibn Ghazwan 638 deaths Arab generals People of the Muslim conquest of Persia People from the Rashidun Caliphate Companions of the Prophet Year of birth unknown 6th-century Arabs Rashidun governors of Basra City founders