The Firsts with Dr. Omar Suleiman

He came to Islam after a severely checkered past, but never let his flaws stop him from assuming his place in the presence of the Prophet ﷺ. He used his strength and sense of movement to monitor the Prophet’s every move, and came back to Ta’if with the command to destroy their idol.

If you saw him in Madinah, you would be taken aback by how he was honored by the Prophet ﷺ and the companions like no other human being, and if you heard him speak then you would know he was special. The last uncle of the Prophet ﷺ and a blessed connection for this Ummah.

The only enemy of the Prophet ﷺ mentioned by name in the Quran, yet his own children became Muslim and would read about their father’s punishment. The incredible story of the believing children of the Prophet ﷺ's uncle and how he received them.

The nephew of Khadijah (ra) and a core figure in the decade prior to the Prophet ﷺ receiving revelation. He held out on Islam because of his worldly focus, yet eventually embraced Islam and a new focus on the hereafter.

The Prophet ﷺ spent some of his earliest years with his foster mother Halima al-Sa’diyya (ra), and never forgot the love she nurtured him with. What was it like to find her again in his final years of life?

He was the first cousin of the Prophet ﷺ, and his brother in that he was nursed by the same woman. He was one of the closest and most beloved people to him. When Islam came, he turned his back on the Prophet ﷺ and became a bitter enemy until the very end where after a painful reunification, came a beautiful ending.

For two decades he was a chief antagonist of the Prophet ﷺ, only to be forgiven and given a position of leadership for the sake of the greater cause.

He was the son of the Pharoah of this Ummah who fought the Prophet ﷺ and his companions even up until the opening of Makkah. But through a journey of many twists and turns, came back to the Prophet ﷺ as one of his most loyal companions. His story of selflessness and martyrdom is ever inspiring and impactful.

From his moments of opposing the Prophet ﷺ in practically every battle of Islam, and his seeking to remove the one place of refuge for the Muslims in Abyssinia, Amr (ra) doesn’t just turn a corner and embrace Islam, but he spreads it to Egypt and many places of the world including Gaza which weighs so heavily on us today.