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Did Ibn Mas'ud decapitate Abu Jahl?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

We have not found an authentic chain of narration that mentions Ibn Mas'ud carrying Abu Jahl's head to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. Al-Bukhari dedicated a chapter in his Sahih to the killing of Abu Jahl, in which he mentioned that Ibn Mas'ud found Abu Jahl on his last breath, and he asked him: "Are you Abu Jahl?" He replied: "Is there anyone higher than a man whom you have killed, or a man whose people have killed?"

Al-Tayalisi, Abu Awanah, Al-Tabarani, and Al-Bayhaqi narrated from Ibn Mas'ud that he came to Abu Jahl, who was fallen at Badr, and said to him: "O enemy of Allah, Allah has disgraced you." Abu Jahl replied: "And how has Allah disgraced me concerning a man whom you have killed?" Ibn Mas'ud mentioned that he struck off his head, then came to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and informed him. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "This is the Pharaoh of this Ummah." Some scholars have strengthened its chain of narration.

However, there is a discrepancy in the chain of narration for this hadith, as it was narrated from Abu Ishaq Al-Subai'i from Amr ibn Maymun from Ibn Mas'ud, while what is preserved is from Abu Ishaq from Abu Ubaydah from his father. Abu Ubaydah did not hear from his father, which makes the chain of narration weak due to its discontinuity.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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