Utaybah ibn Abī Lahab () in

pre-Islamic Arabia Pre-Islamic Arabia is the Arabian Peninsula and its northern extension in the Syrian Desert before the rise of Islam. This is consistent with how contemporaries used the term ''Arabia'' or where they said Arabs lived, which was not limited to the ...

, was the son of

Abū Lahab ʿAbd al-ʿUzzā ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib (), better known as Abū Lahab (; ) was the Islamic prophet Muhammad's half paternal uncle. He was one of the Meccan Quraysh leaders who opposed Muhammad and was condemned in Surat Al-Masad of the Qura ...

. He planned to marry

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

's third daughter

Umm Kulthum Umm Kulthum (; 31 December 1898 – 3 February 1975) was an Egyptians, Egyptian singer and film actress active from the 1920s to the 1970s. She was given the honorific title (). Immensely popular throughout the Middle East and beyond, Umm Kul ...

, but canceled the engagement on his father's request. He was Muhammad's cousin.

Biography

Utaybah was one of three sons of

Abu Lahab ʿAbd al-ʿUzzā ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib (), better known as Abū Lahab (; ) was the Islamic prophet Muhammad's half paternal uncle. He was one of the Meccan Quraysh leaders who opposed Muhammad and was condemned in Surat Al-Masad of the Qura ...

, a staunch opponent of

. He was the only son of Abu Lahab who did not embrace Islam. He was engaged to

Umm Kulthum bint Muhammad Umm Kulthūm bint Muḥammad () (–630) was the third daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad by his first wife Khadija bint Khuwaylid. Conversion to Islam She was born in Mecca, the fifth of their six children.Muhammad ibn Saad. ''Kitab al-T ...

, the daughter of Muhammad, in 610 before the advent of his prophethood.

Breaking off engagement of Umm Kulthum and Death

When Muhammad began preaching, it was initially kept secret among his closest friends. Later on, he went up to

Mount Safa Safa and Marwa () are two small hills, connected to the larger Abu Qubais and Qaiqan mountains, respectively, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, now made part of ''Al-Masjid al-Haram''. Muslims travel back and forth between them seven times in what is known ...

and called the people of Mecca. He asked them if they would believe him if raiders were behind the mountain approaching the city, and they affirmed his honesty throughout his 40 prior years of life in Mecca. He then warned them of imminent punishment from God. This was the first public preaching of Muhammad. Abu Lahab then replied, "may you be destroyed today, did you gather us here for this?" And he opposed him, following him around Mecca, throwing stones at him until his legs bled, and calling him a liar while warning people not to accept Islam. Abu Lahab then told his sons to break off the engagement of the two daughters of Muhammad or he would never speak to them again.

Utaybah bin Abi Lahab then approached Muhammad and shouted at him, saying he disbelieved in the Qur'an and in his prophethood, citing chapter 53: "I disbelieve in: 'By the star when it goes down.' ur'an 53:1and in 'Then he (Gabriel) approached and came closer. ur'an 53:8He then spat in front of Muhammad and declared the broken engagement of Muhammad's daughter, Umm Kulthum. Thereupon, Muhammad invoked Allâh against "Utaybah and supplicated: 'O Allâh! Set one of Your dogs on him.' Later, Utaybah set out for Syria with some of his compatriots from Quraysh and took accommodation in Az-Zarqa. A lion approached the group and devoured Utaybah bin Abi Lahab.

In August 2011, researchers from the

Hashemite University The Hashemite University (الجامعة الهاشمية), often abbreviated HU, is a public university in Jordan. It was established in 1995. The university is located in the vicinity of the city of Zarqa. As regards to the study systems, it ...

of the Queen Rania Institute for Tourism and Heritage were able to discover the historical site where the death occurred in the valley of Zarqa in Jordan, now known as the "Jannaa'ah" area adjacent to the stream of Zarqa.

References

Year of birth missing 7th-century Arab people 613 deaths {{Islam-bio-stub