Uqba ibn Abi Mu'ayt
عقبة بن أبي معيط
c. 570 CE – March 624 CE · Ramadan 2 AH† †
† Hijri date derived by computation from the Gregorian/Julian date; it may differ from the transmitted date by a day or two.
A Qurashi of Banu Abd Shams among the documented harassers of the Prophet in Mecca; captured at Badr, he was one of the two captives executed on the march home — a fact the sources record soberly.
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
- PersecutortowardMuhammad · c. 613 CE – 622 CE · 1 BH†Historical
- Military opponenttowardThe early Muslim community · 624 CE · 2 AH†Historical
Arabian polytheism (documented)
Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.
Brief
Uqba ibn Abi Mu'ayt was a Qurashi whom the sources record doing specific, physical harm to the Prophet — and one of two captives executed after Badr, a fact the tradition itself records without decoration.
Life
The sources tie Uqba to the ugliest small scenes of the Meccan years: throwing the offal of a slaughtered camel on the Prophet as he prostrated, and throttling him with his cloak by the Kaaba until Abu Bakr intervened 1.
Captured at Badr, he was put to death on the return march — one of two captives (the other, al-Nadr ibn al-Harith) singled out for execution, which the sources justify by his record of harassment 1 2.
Legacy
The museum records him plainly, as the sources do: a man whose documented acts were paid back, after the battle, in kind. His case is a hard display case — war, captivity and revenge in the first generation.
For young visitors
Uqba hurt the Prophet in public, again and again. After the first big battle he was one of only two prisoners who were not spared.
Connections
- Parent of
- Umm Kulthum bint Uqba
- Born in
- Mecca
- Died in
- Badr
- Member of
- Banu Abd ShamsQuraysh
- Persecuted
- Muhammad
- Participated in
- The Battle of BadrThe affair of the Badr prisonersThe departure night of the Hijra
People and things also explored
al-Nadr ibn al-HarithAbu Jahl (Amr ibn Hisham)Umayya ibn KhalafUtba ibn Rabi'aMus'ab ibn UmayrThe Battle of BadrSuhayl ibn AmrUmar ibn al-Khattab
Sources
- Ibn Ishaq / Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad (1955)
- Watt, Muhammad at Mecca (1953)
- Ibn Sa'd, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir (Bewley translation, Ta-Ha)
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Uqba ibn Abi Mu'ayt”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/uqba-ibn-abi-muayt/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-12.