Walid ibn al-Mughira
Walid ibn Mughira (Arabic: الوليد بن المغيرة) was the chief of the Banu Makhzum clan of the Quraish Tribe. His clan was responsible for warfare related matters.
Family
His father was Mughirah ibn Abd-Allah.
Sons: Walid ibn Mughira was married to Lubābah Sugra who bore for him Khalid ibn al-Walīd. One of his other wives gave birth to Hishām ibn al-Walīd and Walīd ibn al-Walīd. His other sons included Ammarah ibn Walid or ‘Umāra.[1]
There was a person named Umar ibn Walid ibn Mughīrah, although it is unclear if he was the son of Walīd.
His son Khalid ibn al-Walid was a prominent companion (sahabi) of the Prophet Muhammad and is considered the greatest general and one of the most famous people of the ensuing Islamic Empire during the Rashidun era. However, neither Khalid, nor his brothers had as yet converted to Islam at the time of their father's death.
Daughters: 1. Najiyah bint al-Walid ibn al-Mughira who was married to Safwan ibn Umayya 2. Fāṭimah bint al-Walīd who was married to Ḥārith ibn Hishām ibn al-Mughīrah of Banu Makhzum clan. Fatima was the mother of Umm Ḥakīm who was married to ‘Ikrima ibn Abu Jahl followed by Khālid ibn Sa‘īd.
Brothers:
- Abu Ḥudhaifah ibn al-Mughīrah
- 'Abdullah ibn al-Mughīrah
- Azwar ibn al-Mughīrah
- Abu Umayyah ibn al-Mughīrah: Father of Umm Salama
- Fākiha ibn al-Mughīrah: First husband of Hind bint 'Utbah
- Hishām ibn al-Mughīrah: Father of Abu Jahl
- Abu Rabī'ah ibn al-Mughīrah: Father of ‘Aiyyāsh.
Biography
The reconstruction of the Ka‘bah:
As one of the leaders of Quraish in the pre-Islamic era, Walid ibn Mughira was one of the richest men of the Quraish. He reportedly financed a quarter of the costs to rebuild the Kaaba (Qaaba) in Mecca with the rest of the clans combined contributing the rest. During the rebuilding of the Ka‘bah, al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīra asked the Quraysh leaders not to spend their ill-gotten gains & wealth for the purpose of renovation. When people were afraid to start the demolition of the Ka‘bah and withdrew in awe from it, al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīra said, ‘I will begin the demolition’. So he took a pick-axe, went up to it saying ‘O Allah, we intend only what is best.’ Then he demolished the part at the two corners. That night people watched, saying, ‘We will look out; if he is smitten we won’t destroy any more of it and will restore it as it was; but if nothing happens to him then Allah is pleased with what we are doing and we will demolish it.’ In the morning al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīra returned to the work of demolition and the people worked with him, until they got down to the foundation of Ibrahīm.[2]
It is further stated that in the pilgrimage season, which lasted the length of forty nights, he would slaughter 10 camels everyday to feed the pilgrims. His caravan trade was once estimated at one hundred camels until it was said to enter not just from one section of the city, but from all sections of Mecca until the camels reached the store at the same time.
Protection to ‘Uthmān ibn Maẓ‘ūn:
Al-Walīd provided protection to ‘Uthmān ibn Maẓ‘ūn although he had already converted to Islam. When ‘Uthmān saw the misery in which the apostle’s companions were living while he lived night and day under al-Walīd’s protection, he said, ‘It is more than I can bear that I should be perfectly safe under the protection of a polytheist while my friends are afflicted for God’s sake.’ So he went to al-Walīd and renounced his protection. Al-Walīd asked him to renounce his protection publicly as he had given it publicly. So ‘Uthmān said in public, ‘I have found him loyal and honorable in his protection, but I don’t want to ask anyone but Allah for protection; so I give him back his promise!’[3]
Hostility towards Islam
When the Quraysh leaders saw that Muhammad refused to withdraw from his mission and continued preaching of monotheism under the protection of Abū Ṭālib, al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīra along with ‘Utba ibn Rabī‘ah, Shayba ibn Rabī‘ah, Abu Sufyān ibn Ḥarb, Abu’l-Bakhtarī (al-‘Āṣ) ibn Hishām, al-Aswad ibn al-Muṭṭalib, ‘Amr ibn Hishām (Abu Jahl), Nubayh ibn al-Ḥajjāj, Munabbih ibn al-Ḥajjāj and al-‘Āṣ ibn Wā’il all went up to Abū Ṭālib and urged him to convince Muḥammad, his nephew, to stop insulting their gods and threatened to bring great harm to him unless he abandoned his mission. To this, the prophet answered, “By Allah, if they put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left, I would not abandon it.[4]
After realizing that Abū Ṭālib would not give up on Muḥammad on any account, the Quraysh leaders went to Abū Ṭālib with al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīra’s son ‘Umāra, and said, ‘O Abū Ṭālib, this is ‘Umāra, the strongest and most handsome young man among Quraysh, so take him & you will have the benefit of his intelligence & support; adopt him as a son and give up to us this nephew of yours who has opposed your religion & the religion of your fathers, severed the unity of your people, and mocked our way of life, so that we may kill him. This will be man for man.’[4]
Verses revealed with reference to al-Walid and the other Quraysh leaders
al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīra & the other Quraysh leaders have been tacitly mentioned in several verses of Qur'an:
Al-Walid was a personage of great influence among the Quraysh. So they went up to him when the annual fair was due. He told them, ‘The time of the fair has come round again and representatives of Arabs will come to you and they will have heard about Muhammad, so agree upon one opinion without dispute so that none will give the lie to the other.’ He recommended that they call Muhammad a sorcerer who has brought a message by which he separated a man from his father, brother, wife or family. The Quraysh accordingly warned the people attending the fair about Muhammad’s doings. So Allah revealed verses 11-25 in Sura 74 concerning al-Walid.[5]
One day the prophet sat with al-Walid in the mosque where al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith came and sat with them in the assembly where some of the Quraysh were. When the prophet spoke al-Naḍr interrupted him, and the prophet spoke to him until he silenced him. Then he read to him & to the others: “Verily ye and what ye serve other than Allah is the fuel of Hell. You will come to it. If these had been gods they would not have come to it, but all will be in it everlastingly. There is wailing and there they will not hear. “ (Sura 21: 98) Then the prophet left and ‘Abdullah ibn al-Ziba‘rā al-Sahmī came and sat down. Al-Walid said to him, ’By Allah, al-Naḍr could not stand up to Muhammad just now and he alleged that we and our gods are fuel for Hell.’ ‘Abdullah said, ‘If I had found him I would have refuted him. Ask Muhammad, “Is everything which is worshipped besides God in Gehenna with those who worship it?” We worship the angels; the Jews worship ‘Uzayr; and the Christians worship Jesus Son of Mary.’ Al-Walid and those with him in the assembly marveled at ‘Abdullah’s words and thought that he had argued convincingly. When Muhammad was told of this he said: ‘Everyone who wishes to be worshipped to the exclusion of God will be with those who worship him. They worship only satans and those they have ordered to be worshipped.’ So Allah revealed: “Those who have received kindness from us in the past will be removed far from it and will not hear its sound and they abide eternally in their heart’s desire.” (Sura 21:101-102)[6]
When al-Walid said ‘Does Allah send down revelations to Muhammad and ignore me, the greatest chief of Quraysh, to say nothing of Abū Mas‘ūd ‘Amr ibn ‘Umayr al-Thaqafī, the chief of Thaqīf, we being the great ones of Ṭā’if and Mecca?’ So Allah sent down concerning him: “They said, If this Qur’ān had been revealed to a great man of the two towns than what they amass”. (Sura 43: 30)[7]
One day as the prophet was going round the Ka‘ba, al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīra approached him along with al-Aswad ibn al-Muṭṭalib ibn Asad ibn ‘Abdu’l-‘Uzzā, Umayya ibn Khalaf and al-‘Āṣ ibn Wā’il to offer him a proposition. They said: ‘Muhammad, let us worship what you worship and you worship what we worship. If what you worship is better than what we worship we will take a share of it, and if what we worship is better than what you worship, you can take a share of that.’ So Allah revealed concerning them: “Say, O disbelievers, I do not worship what you worship, and you do not worship what I worship, and I do not worship what you worship, and you do not worship what I worship; You have your code of life (Deen) and I have mine.” (Sura 109)[8]
Al-Walīd was having a long conversation with the apostle who greatly desired to convert him to Islam when Umm Maktūm, a blind man, passed by and began to ask the prophet to recite the Qur'an. The prophet found this hard to bear and it annoyed him, because he was diverting him from Al-Walīd and spoiling the chance of his conversion; and when the man became importunate Muhammad went off frowning and left him. So Allah revealed: “He frowned and turned his back when the blind man came to him. I sent you only to be an evangelist and a reprover; I did not specify one person to the exclusion of another, so withhold not (the message) from him who seeks it, and do not waste time over one who does not want it.” (Sura 80, ‘Abasa)[9]
One day the prophet passed by al-Walīd, Umayya ibn Khalaf and Abu Jahl ibn Hisham and they reviled & mocked him and this caused him distress. So Allah sent down to him: “Apostles have been mocked before thee, but that which they mocked at hemmed them in.” (Sura 6: 10)[10]
Death
He was among those purported to have been killed at the Battle of Badr.
Al-Walīd was one of the five principal offenders of Muhammad the others being al-Aswad ibn al-Muṭṭalib ibn Asad, al-Aswad ibn ‘Abdu Yaghūth, al-‘Āṣ ibn Wā’il ibn Hishām, al-Ḥārith ibn al-Ṭulāṭila (from Banu Khuzā‘a). When they persisted in evil and constantly mocked the apostle, Allah revealed: “Proclaim what you have been ordered and turn away from the polytheists. We will surely protect you against the mockers who put another god beside Allah. In the end they will know.” (Sura 15: 94)
Jibreel (Gabriel) came to the prophet when the mockers were going round the Ka‘bah. He stood up and the apostle stood at his side. When al-Aswad ibn al-Muṭṭalib passed, Jibreel threw a green leaf in his face and he became blind. Then al-Aswad ibn ‘Abdu Yagūth passed and Jibreel pointed at his belly which swelled so that he died of dropsy. Next al-Walīd passed by. Jibreel pointed at an old scar on the bottom of his ankle (the result of a wound he received some years earlier as he was trailing his gown when he passed by a man of Khuzā‘ah who was feathering an arrow, and the arrowhead caught in his wrapper and scratched his foot). But the wound opened again and he died of it.[11]
See also
- Mughira (name)
- Waleed (name)
- non-Muslims who interacted with Muslims during Muhammad's era