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
- OpponenttowardMuhammad · c. 613 CEHistorical
- InterlocutortowardMuhammad · c. 619 CETradition
- 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
Utba ibn Rabi'a was an elder of Banu Abd Shams who argued for buying off the Prophet rather than fighting him — the opposition's negotiator, killed with the rest of the elite at Badr.
Life
The sira gives Utba its most interesting scene of attempted settlement: sent by the elders to offer Muhammad wealth, kingship and a physician if only he would stop, he sat and listened, returned to the council, and — the sources say — warned them this man was no madman and they would regret fighting him 1.
At Badr the tradition has him counsel retreat even as the army marched; he died there with the elite of Quraysh 1. His daughter was Hind, later the wife of Abu Sufyan — the family's own history carrying the whole arc of the war.
Legacy
Utba stands for the opposition that talked: the path not taken at Badr, preserved by the sources as a real alternative, argued and lost.
For young visitors
Utba tried to make a deal instead of a war. The deal failed, the war happened, and he died in it — with his daughter's family on both sides of the story.
Connections
- Parent of
- Hind bint Utba
- Born in
- Mecca
- Died in
- Badr
- Member of
- Banu Abd ShamsQuraysh
- Participated in
- The Battle of BadrThe duel at BadrThe Prophet's journey to al-Ta'ifLast Quraysh delegation to Abu TalibUtba ibn Rabi'a's offer to the Prophet
People and things also explored
Abu Jahl (Amr ibn Hisham)Umayya ibn KhalafUqba ibn Abi Mu'aytMeccaQurayshMuhammadal-Nadr ibn al-HarithAbu Sufyan ibn Harb
Sources
- Ibn Ishaq / Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad (1955)
- Ibn Sa'd, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir (Bewley translation, Ta-Ha)
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Utba ibn Rabi'a”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/utba-ibn-rabia/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-12.