Hamzah's Bow

Hamzah ibn Abdul-Muttalib (ra) was the Prophet's ﷺ uncle, close to him in age, his companion in childhood, and the most formidable hunter and warrior in Quraysh. He had stayed apart from the new religion, neither opposing nor embracing it, busy with his bow and the open country.

One day he returned from the hunt to be told by a freedwoman what she had seen: Abu Jahl had come upon Muhammad ﷺ at Safa, abused him, insulted him with everything he could find, and the Prophet ﷺ had not answered a word; then Abu Jahl strutted off to his circle at the Ka'bah. The blood of family and the shame of injustice rose in Hamzah together.

He strode to the sanctuary, bow still on his shoulder, walked up to Abu Jahl seated among the chiefs, and struck him across the head with the bow, opening a wound. Do you insult him when I am on his religion, saying what he says? he roared. Say it back to me if you can. Abu Jahl's clansmen rose; Abu Jahl, bleeding, waved them down: leave Abu Umarah, for by Allah I cursed his nephew with an ugly cursing.

Words spoken in anger became conviction by morning. Hamzah (ra) examined what he had declared, prayed for guidance through a restless night, and the certainty settled: he remained upon Islam, sincerely now, the strongest man in the city standing beside its most persecuted one. Quraysh absorbed the news with dismay, and the open abuse of the Prophet ﷺ grew noticeably more careful.