Urwa ibn Mas'ud

The Hudaybiyya Envoy

Urwa ibn Mas’ud was a chief of Thaqif of Ta’if. At Hudaybiyya, the Quraysh sent him as their envoy. He spoke roughly to the Prophet ﷺ, and when he reached for his blessed beard as he spoke, his own nephew al-Mughira ibn Shu’ba — standing armed behind the Prophet ﷺ — rapped his hand with his sword-hilt and bade him take it away. Urwa, going back, told the Quraysh he had seen the courts of Caesar, Kisra and the Negus, but never subjects so devoted to their leader: the Muslims caught the Prophet’s ﷺ ablution-water, gathered round him at his every gesture, and would not raise their gaze to his face. 1 Hayatus Sahaba · Vol 1 · pp. 169–171 — Kandhlawi — Urwa at Hudaybiyya; al-Mughira raps his hand; his report on the devotion of the Companions.

Martyrdom Preaching Islam

After the siege of Ta’if, Urwa caught up with the Prophet ﷺ and embraced Islam, asking permission to call his people. The Prophet ﷺ warned, “They will kill you.” He answered, “I am dearer to them than their virgins.” He climbed his balcony, gave the dawn adhan, and called Thaqif to Islam — and they shot him down with arrows. As he died he forbade any vengeance for him, saying his blood was a gift toward their unity. The Prophet ﷺ said: “Urwa is among his people like the man of Surah Ya-Sin — who called his people to Allah, and they killed him.” 2 Hayatus Sahaba · Vol 1 · pp. 203–204, 219–220 — Kandhlawi — Urwa's da'wah, his martyrdom at the dawn adhan, his forbidding vengeance, and the Prophet's likening him to the man of Ya-Sin.