Mut'im ibn Adi
مطعم بن عدي
c. 555 CE – c. 619 CE
A chief of Banu Nawfal who never became a Muslim — yet tore up the boycott document against Banu Hashim and sheltered the Prophet under his protection when Mecca would not take him back from Ta'if.
At a glance
- Roles
- Politician
- 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
HospitalityPeace-making and coexistence
Place in the story
- ProtectortowardMuhammad · 619 CE – 619 CEHistorical
- AllytowardBanu Hashim · c. 619 CEHistorical
Arabian polytheism (documented)
Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.
Brief
Mut'im ibn Adi was a chief of Banu Nawfal who never became a Muslim — and yet protected the Prophet at his most exposed, giving him safe-conduct back into Mecca when no Muslim dared show himself there.
Life
When the Prophet returned from Ta'if — rejected, stoned, without a tribe to shelter him — he sent asking for Mut'im's protection. Mut'im met him armed, with his sons, and declared the jiwar from the Kaaba: Muhammad was under his safeguard, and Mecca had to accept it 1.
Earlier that same year he had been one of the Qurashi notables who moved to tear up the boycott document against Banu Hashim 1. He died around 619 CE, before the Hijra, still on the religion of his people 2.
Legacy
The tradition remembers him without trying to claim him: the Prophet is reported to have said that had Mut'im lived and asked him for the prisoners of Badr, he would have given them. A protector honored as a protector — no more, and no less.
For young visitors
When the Prophet came back to Mecca with nowhere safe to stand, a man who didn't believe in his message stood up armed and said "he is under my protection." And Mecca let him in.
Connections
- Born in
- Mecca
- Died in
- Mecca
- Member of
- Quraysh
- Protected
- Muhammad
- Participated in
- The boycott of the Banu Hashim
People and things also explored
Banu HashimKhadija bint KhuwaylidMeccaThe Conquest of Mecca (Fath Makka)The Treaty of HudaybiyyaAbu Sufyan ibn HarbSuhayl ibn AmrThe Expedition of Banu al-Mustaliq (al-Muraysi')
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. “Mut'im ibn Adi”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/mutim-ibn-adi/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-12.