Utba ibn Ghazwan

He was the seventh person to convert to Islam and participated in the hijra to Abyssinia, but returned to stay with Muhammad in Mecca before making the second hijrah to Medina.

[1] He belonged to the Banu Mazin, a minor clan from the Mansur ibn Ikrima branch of the Qays tribe in the Hejaz (western Arabia).

[2] He was known to be the seventh person to embrace Islam and he participated in the two Muslim emigrations from Mecca to Abyssinia, as well as playing combat roles in the Battle of Badr and several of the raids led or ordered by Muhammad.

[4] During the caliphate of Abu Bakr (r. 632–634), the Muslims led by Khalid ibn al-Walid may have launched their first campaigns against the Sasanian Persians in lower Mesopotamia (Iraq), but these their gains were short-lived or limited.

Abu Bakr's successor Umar (r. 634–644) dispatched Utba to this front from the capital at Medina, which marked the commencement of the definitive conquest of Iraq.