Sumayyah bint Khayyat: The First Martyr in the Ummah

Women of Truth

Sumayyah bint Khayyat was the first person in Islamic history to be killed for believing in one God. She did not die on a battlefield or during a political conflict. She was killed in public, in Mecca, around 615 CE, simply for saying, “My Lord is Allah.”

She was not from a powerful tribe. She was a slave woman, originally owned by Abu Hudhayfa al-Makhzumi. She later married Yasir ibn Amir, and they had a son named Ammar. All three were among the earliest converts to Islam, during the first few years of the Prophet Muhammad’s (s.a.w) private preaching in Mecca (610–613 CE). At that time, Islam had no state, no army, and no protection. Most early Muslims were either poor, enslaved, or socially vulnerable and thus, the first targets.

By 613 CE, when the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) was commanded to proclaim Islam publicly, the Quraysh elite launched a campaign of public torture and humiliation to suppress its rise. Sumayyah’s family became one of the most severely persecuted. They were dragged into open areas under the sun, bound to the ground, and subjected to relentless torment. Among their torturers was Abu Jahl, a leader of Quraysh and one of the fiercest enemies of Islam.

Despite this, Sumayyah never renounced her faith. She refused to say the words of disbelief, even under intense suffering. According to early biographers like Ibn Ishaq, al-Tabari, and Ibn Hisham, Abu Jahl ultimately killed her by thrusting a spear into her lower body, specifically into her private parts (farj), in an act of brutal humiliation. Her murder occurred publicly, around 615 CE, and was witnessed by others. It was not a battle. It was a message meant to instill fear.