Hind bint Utba
هند بنت عتبة
c. 575 CE – c. 640 CE · c. 19 AH† †
† Hijri date derived by computation from the Gregorian/Julian date; it may differ from the transmitted date by a day or two.
Daughter of the Meccan elder Utba ibn Rabi'a and wife of Abu Sufyan: the sira's most vivid figure of Meccan defiance at Uhud, who converted with the conquest of Mecca; mother of the caliph Mu'awiya.
At a glance
- Era
- The Prophetic Era
- Region
- Arabia
- Review
- Draft Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it
In time
In space
Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph
Place in the story
- OpponenttowardThe early Muslim community · 625 CE · 4 AH† – 630 CE · 9 AH†Historical
- Convert to Islam · 630 CE · 9 AH†Tradition
Arabian polytheism (documented) · Sunni (transmitted)
How others named them
- “'Akilat al-akbad' (eater of the liver) — a name given her for the Uhud mutilation” — later Muslim tradition
Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.
Brief
Hind bint Utba — daughter of the Meccan elder Utba and wife of Abu Sufyan — is the sira's most vivid figure of Meccan defiance. She converted at the conquest and became the mother of the first Umayyad caliph.
Life
At Uhud the sources show her at the front of the Meccan line, urging the fighters on with song. After the battle the sira attributes to her the mutilation of Hamza's body — told in the sources with varying detail 1.
At the conquest of Mecca she converted. The tradition preserves the women's pledge as a genuine exchange: Hind answering the Prophet's conditions with pointed retorts before giving her word 2.
Her son Mu'awiya would rule the first Islamic empire.
Legacy
Later tradition named her "eater of the liver" for Uhud — the museum records the act as the sources tell it, and the conversion they equally record. She is one of the clearest cases in the sira of a person crossing the war's whole arc.
For young visitors
Hind fought fiercely against the Muslims, then made peace with them — and her son became the ruler of the whole Islamic world.
Opinions on the question
The question: How is the life of Hind bint Utba told, and how do the sources shape her portrait?
First opinion · Sunni tradition (the museum's frame)Main reference
More opinions (1)
Academic viewSecondary opinion
Connections
- Spouse of
- Abu Sufyan ibn Harb
- Born in
- Mecca
- Child of
- Utba ibn Rabi'a
- Member of
- Banu Abd Shams
- Participated in
- The Battle of UhudThe Conquest of Mecca (Fath Makka)Martyrdom of Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib at Uhud
People and things also explored
QurayshThe early Muslim communityAbu Sufyan ibn HarbMuhammadMeccaThe Battle of HunaynHamza ibn Abd al-MuttalibKhalid ibn al-Walid
Sources
- Ibn Ishaq / Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad (1955)
- Ibn Sa'd, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir (Bewley translation, Ta-Ha)
- Watt, Muhammad at Medina (1956)
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Hind bint Utba”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/hind-bint-utba/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-12.