The genealogy of this person is as follows: Abū Sufyān b. Ḥāris b. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib. He was the cousin of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). It is said that his name was Mughīra. He became Muslim in the year of the conquest of Mecca. He truly lived Islam beautifully. Previously, he had been a very harsh enemy of the Messenger of God, of Islam, and of the Muslims. He was a powerful poet, and he would satirize Islam and the Muslims. Ḥassān b. Thābit responded to one of his satires against the Messenger of God as follows:
"Take heed! Send word from me to Abū Sufyān that secrecy has vanished...
You reviled Muḥammad, and I replied to your reviling. For this, I have a reward with Allah. Are you reviling him when you are not his equal? The worse of you two should be sacrificed for the better one."
When Abū Sufyān b. Ḥāris and ʿAbdullāh b. Abī Umayya came to him to become Muslim and sought to meet with him, the Messenger of God did not grant them permission. Finally, when Umm Salama interceded for her brother ʿAbdullāh b. Abī Umayya, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) permitted him to become Muslim. When Abū Sufyān b. Ḥāris heard this, he said: "By Allah, if the Messenger of God does not permit me to become Muslim, I will take this little child of mine by the hand and go away with him to some unknown place and disappear." Thereupon, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) was moved to compassion and permitted him to enter Islam. In the Battle of Ḥunayn, he remained steadfast at the side of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) and held the reins of his mule and waited. It is narrated that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) loved him greatly and testified that he was among the people of Paradise. He even said to him: "I hope you will be the successor of Ḥamza." At the time of his death, he composed the following elegy for the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him):
"Sleep has fled from me, my night will not pass.
The night of the afflicted is long.
Crying has made me happy, for only a few Muslims have been afflicted.
Our calamity has been very great.
On the evening of the day the Messenger passed away, we lost revelation and the descent of the Qur'an.
Previously, Gabriel would bring revelation morning and evening."
It is related that Abū Sufyān performed the pilgrimage. While having his hair shaved, the barber cut a mole on his head, because of which he fell ill and, after returning to Medina, passed away. ʿUmar led his funeral prayer. It is said that his brother Nawfal died four months before him. Allah knows best.