al-Walid ibn al-Mughira
الوليد بن المغيرة
c. 550 CE – c. 620 CE
The grand old man of Banu Makhzum — arbiter of Quraysh's elders, father of Khalid, and the man whose poetic verdicts shaped how Mecca first named the Prophet's recitation.
At a glance
- Era
- The Prophetic Era
- Region
- Arabia
- Review
- Draft Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it
Life in time
In space
Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph
Place in the story
- OpponenttowardMuhammad · c. 613 CEHistorical
- PersecutortowardThe early Muslim community · c. 613 CE – c. 620 CETradition
Arabian polytheism (documented)
Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.
Brief
Al-Walid ibn al-Mughira was the grand elder of Banu Makhzum — arbiter of Quraysh's councils, father of Khalid ibn al-Walid, and the poet-critic whose verdicts gave Mecca its first vocabulary for the Prophet's recitation.
Life
The sira's most famous council-scene is his: the elders asking him what to call the Prophet — soothsayer? madman? poet? — and al-Walid weighing each word and rejecting it, settling on "a sorcerer who splits a man from his family" 1. The verdict became the campaign line.
He was of the elite that pressed the boycott of Banu Hashim, and died about 620 CE, before Badr 2. His sons' generation would take the story further — Khalid fighting on both sides of it.
Legacy
Al-Walid is the museum's exhibit of opposition by rhetoric: the moment Mecca tried to taxonomize the revelation — and, in the sources' own telling, respected it enough to argue about the right word.
For young visitors
The elders of Mecca asked their wisest man what to call the Prophet's words. His answer was meant as an insult — and it tells us they knew the words were powerful.
Connections
- Born in
- Mecca
- Died in
- Mecca
- Member of
- Banu Makhzum· Quraysh
- Participated in
- The boycott of the Banu Hashim· The rebuilding of the Kaaba· al-Walid's council on how to brand the Prophet
- Parent of
- Khalid ibn al-Walid
- Revealed in
- Qur'an 74:11
People and things also explored
Mecca· Quraysh· Abu Jahl (Amr ibn Hisham)· Abu Lahab· Muhammad· Khalid ibn al-Walid· The Conquest of Mecca (Fath Makka)· The Treaty of Hudaybiyya
Sources
- Ibn Ishaq / Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad (1955)
- Ibn Sa'd, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir (Bewley translation, Ta-Ha)
- Watt, Muhammad at Mecca (1953)
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “al-Walid ibn al-Mughira”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/al-walid-ibn-al-mughira/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-12.