The Flight
When the Prophet entered Mecca in 8 AH with an army of 10,000, most of the Qurayshi leadership submitted. Ikrimah was among those specifically excluded from the general amnesty — his record of opposition was too long. He fled toward the sea, intending to escape to Abyssinia or Yemen.
His wife Umm Hakim had converted and gone to the Prophet asking for her husband’s safety. The Prophet gave her a guarantee. She pursued Ikrimah, caught up with him as he was boarding a ship, and convinced him to return.
The Conversion and the Prophet’s Acceptance
When Ikrimah came to the Prophet and declared the shahada, the Prophet rose to receive him and reportedly said: “Welcome to the emigrant horseman.” The companions were instructed: “Whoever used to say anything ill about his father before him — do not mention his father’s faults.” Abu Jahl was not to be brought into the conversation.
This instruction — not to wound the new convert by reminding him of his father’s condemnation — is itself a principle of Islamic pastoral sensitivity.
Death at Ajnadayn
Ikrimah fought in the Ridda Wars under Abu Bakr. He was then sent to Syria and died at the Battle of Ajnadayn (13 AH), one of the first major Muslim victories in Syria against the Byzantine forces. He died in the first wave of the attack, having requested to fight in the front.
See also: Fath Mecca, Seerah Hindun Bint Utbah, Seerah Khalid Ibn Walid, Seerah Al Walid Ibn Al Mughirah, Al Ridda