The story of the name
The day the lion turned
Makkah knew Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib (RA) as its huntsman and its strongest man. He was the Prophet's ﷺ uncle — and, closer still, his foster-brother, nursed by the same woman when they were infants (Bukhari 2645). One day Hamza (RA) came back from the hunt and heard that Abu Jahl had abused his nephew in public. He went straight to the assembly, struck Abu Jahl with his bow, and declared before everyone that he followed Muhammad ﷺ. The sirah says his faith began as protection, and then, over the days that followed, settled into conviction.
Asadullah
Once Hamza (RA) believed, the balance in Makkah shifted — the Muslims had a lion. At Badr, when the enemy called out for the opening duel, three Muslims stepped forward: Hamza (RA), Ali (RA), and Ubayda ibn al-Harith (RA). Hamza (RA) struck down his man. Abu Dharr (RA) later swore that a verse came down about the six who fought that day — these are two adversaries who dispute concerning their Lord (Surah al-Hajj, 22:19; Bukhari 4743, Muslim 3033). The tradition came to call Hamza (RA) Asadullah — the Lion of Allah — the same honor it gives Ali (RA).
The leader of the martyrs
At Uhud, the lion fell. His body was mutilated where it lay, and when the Prophet ﷺ found him, he grieved as he grieved over almost no one else in his life. Hamza (RA) was buried on the field at Uhud, among the martyrs. The Qur'an says of those killed in Allah's path that they are not dead at all — they are alive with their Lord, and provided for (Surah Aal Imran, 3:169). The Prophet ﷺ is reported to have named him the best of the martyrs before Allah, and the ummah has honored him ever since as sayyid al-shuhada, the leader of the martyrs. His name means the strong, the lion-hearted — but the ummah has never needed the dictionary. For fourteen centuries, Hamza has simply meant the lion who stands up for his own.
The man who killed him
The strongest account of Hamza (RA)'s death comes, remarkably, from the man who killed him. Wahshi ibn Harb was a slave, promised his freedom if he killed Hamza (RA) to avenge a master's uncle lost at Badr. He was deadly with a spear. At Uhud he hid behind a rock, waited for his moment, and threw. The spear struck Hamza (RA), and Wahshi went free (Bukhari 4072). Years later, after the Prophet ﷺ had taken Makkah, Wahshi (RA) came to him and accepted Islam. The Prophet ﷺ asked him to tell how Hamza (RA) had died, and heard the whole account. Then he said, gently: can you keep your face away from me? He accepted Wahshi (RA)'s Islam fully — Islam erases what came before it — but the loss of an uncle was still a wound. Wahshi (RA) understood, and kept his distance. Later, in the wars after the Prophet ﷺ, Wahshi (RA) took up the same spear against Musaylimah the false prophet, and killed him. With one spear, he said, he had killed the best of men, and then the worst — and hoped the second might answer for the first.
The daughter he left behind
Hamza (RA) left a young daughter. Years after Uhud, when the Prophet ﷺ was leaving Makkah, she ran after the departing Muslims, calling out, "Uncle! Uncle!" Ali (RA) lifted her up and carried her to safety. Ali (RA), Ja'far (RA), and Zayd (RA) — three of the finest men in Islam — each argued that he should be the one to raise her. The Prophet ﷺ gave her to Ja'far (RA)'s household, whose wife was the girl's maternal aunt, and said: the maternal aunt is like the mother (Bukhari 2699, 4251). The lion was gone, but his child was something the best of the ummah competed to protect.
To carry this name
To carry this name is to be strong for others, not for yourself. Hamza (RA)'s courage first showed when he stood up for his nephew against those who mistreated him — and it grew until he was the first into the fight, and in the end gave his life for the faith. It is to be the kind of person whose presence makes the people around you braver and safer. And it is to let that strength grow up: to begin by protecting your own out of love, and to grow into standing for the truth itself.