Biography of Mother of the Believers Umm Salamah (Hind bint Abi Umayya)

Umm Ruman said: "And what is that?"

She said: "My son narrated the report."

She said: "And what is that?"

She said: "Such and such."

Aisha said: "Did the Messenger of Allah hear?"

She said: "Yes."

She said: "And Abu Bakr?"

She said: "Yes."

She fell down in a swoon; she did not come back except covered with a burning fever; I threw her garments over her; the Prophet, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, came and said: "What has befallen this one?"

I said: "Messenger of Allah, a burning fever has seized her."

He said: "And perhaps in the report being related to her there is something?"

I said: "Yes."

She sat up and said: "By Allah, if I swear, you will not believe me; and if I speak, you will not excuse me; my case and yours are like that of Ya'qub and his sons: Allah is the One implored against what you describe."

She said: and he went away without saying anything.

Allah then sent down her excuse.

She said: "Praise belongs to Allah, not to anyone, and not to your praise."

Sahih, rare.

No. 20: Umm Salama, the Mother of the Believers, Hind bint Abi Umayya al-Makhzumiyya, may Allah be pleased with her.

The noble lady, the veiled, the pure; Hind bint Abi Umayya ibn al-Mughira ibn Abd Allah ibn Umar ibn Makhzum ibn Yaqaza ibn Murra, al-Makhzumiyya, first cousin of Khalid ibn al-Walid, the sword of Allah, and first cousin of Abu Jahl ibn Hisham.

Of the first emigrant women.

Before the Prophet, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, she was with his brother by nursing, Abu Salama ibn Abd al-Asad al-Makhzumi, a righteous man.

The Prophet, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, married her in the year four of the Hijra.

She was among the most beautiful and noblest of women by lineage, and she was the last of the Mothers of the Believers to die.

She lived until the killing of al-Husayn, the martyr, reached her; she collided with it, was seized with fainting, grieved greatly over him, and did not remain long after him: she migrated to Allah.

She had sons who were Companions: Umar, Salama and Zaynab.

She has a collection of hadiths.

The narrators of Mother of the Believers Umm Salamah

Those who narrated from her: Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib; Shaqiq ibn Salama; al-Aswad ibn Yazid; al-Sha'bi; Abu Salih the grain merchant; Mujahid; Nafi' ibn Jubayr ibn Mut'im; Nafi', her freedman; Nafi', the freedman of Ibn Umar; Ata ibn Abi Rabah; Shahr ibn Hawshab; Ibn Abi Mulayka; and a numerous crowd.

She lived about ninety years.

Her father is Zad al-Rakib, one of the most generous; it is said his name was Hudhayfa.

The one who named her Ramla erred: that one is Umm Habiba.

She was counted among the jurists among the women Companions.

Al-Waqidi: Umar ibn Uthman narrated to us, from Abd al-Malik ibn Ubayd, from Sa'id ibn Yarbou', from Umar ibn Abi Salama, who said:

The Messenger of Allah, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, sent my father to Abu Qatada in al-Muharram of year four; he was absent twenty-nine nights, then returned in Safar, the wound he received on the day of Uhud having opened; he died of it, on the eighth of Jumada al-akhira; my mother completed the 'idda in Shawwal, and the Messenger of Allah, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, married her.

Until he said: she died in the year fifty-nine, in Dhu al-qa'da.

Ibn Sa'd: Ahmad ibn Ishaq al-Hadrami informed us; Abd al-Wahid ibn Ziyad narrated; Asim al-Ahwal narrated; Ziyad ibn Abi Maryam:

Umm Salama said to Abu Salama: "I have been informed that there is no woman whose husband dies while he is among the people of Paradise, and who does not remarry, but that Allah gathers them together in Paradise; come, I make you swear not to marry after me, and I shall not marry after you."

He said: "Will you obey me?"

She said: "Yes."

He said: "When I die, marry; O Allah, grant Umm Salama after me a man better than I, who does not grieve her and does not harm her."

When he died, I said: "Who is better than Abu Salama?"

I did not remain long, and the Messenger of Allah, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, came; he stood at the door and made the proposal of marriage to her nephew, or her son.

She said: "Would I repel the Messenger of Allah, or advance to him with my dependents?"

Then came the next day, and he proposed.

'Affan: Hammad narrated; Thabit narrated; Ibn Umar ibn Abi Salama narrated to me, from his father:

The marriage of Mother of the Believers Umm Salamah

That when the 'idda of Umm Salama was completed, Abu Bakr proposed to her; she refused him; then Umar; she refused him.

The Messenger of Allah sent to her; she said: "Welcome; tell the Messenger of Allah that I am jealous, that I am afflicted, and that none of my guardians is present."

He sent to her: "As for your saying: I am afflicted: Allah will suffice you regarding your children; as for your saying: I am jealous: I shall pray Allah to remove your jealousy; as for the guardians: there is none of them but he will be content with me."

She said: "O Umar, rise and marry the Messenger of Allah."

The Messenger of Allah, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, said: "Indeed, I shall not withhold from you anything of what I gave to such a one [...]", the hadith.

Abd Allah ibn Numayr: Abu Hayyan al-Timi narrated; Habib ibn Abi Thabit, who said:

Umm Salama said: the Messenger of Allah, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, came to me and spoke to me, a screen between us, and proposed to me.

I said: "What do you want from me? I say this only out of turning away from myself: I am a woman whose years have declined, a mother of orphans, a woman of strong jealousy, and you, O Messenger of Allah, marry several women."

He said: "As for the jealousy: Allah will remove it; as for the age: I am older than you; as for your orphans: they are upon Allah and upon His messenger."

I consented, and he married me.

Abu Nu'aym: Abd al-Wahid ibn Aymen narrated; Abu Bakr ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Harith narrated to me:

The Messenger of Allah, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, proposed to Umm Salama, and she said:

"I have three traits: old age, children, and jealousy [...]", the hadith.

And from al-Muttalib ibn Abd Allah ibn Hantab, who said:

One of the best-married of the Arabs entered upon the master of the Muslims at the beginning of the night as a bride, and stood at the end of the night grinding: meaning Umm Salama.

Malik: from Abd Allah ibn Abi Bakr, from Abd al-Malik ibn Abi Bakr ibn Abd al-Rahman, from his father, who said:

When the Messenger of Allah, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, consummated with Umm Salama, he said: "Your family shall not be diminished: if you wish, I send you seven of them; I shall send seven of them, meaning his women; and if you wish: three, and I make the rounds?"

She said: "Three."

Ruh ibn Ubada: Ibn Jurayj narrated to us; Habib ibn Abi Thabit informed me that Abd al-Hamid ibn Abd Allah and al-Qasim ibn Muhammad had narrated to him that they heard Abu Bakr ibn Abd al-Rahman inform that Umm Salama had informed him:

When she arrived in Medina she informed them she was the daughter of Abi Umayya; they gave her the lie, until some of them set out for the hajj; they said: "Will you write to your people?"

She wrote with them; they returned, believed her, and her nobility grew still greater with them.

She said: after Zaynab was born, the Messenger of Allah, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, came to me and proposed to me; I said: "None like me marries!"

He married her, and would come to her saying: "Where is Zunab?"

Until Ammar came, seized her and drove her out, and said: "This one detains the Messenger of Allah."

She was nursing her; the Prophet, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, came and said: "Where is Zunab?"

It was said: Ammar has taken her.

He said: "I shall come to you tonight."

She said: I put down my little one, brought out some grains of barley from my jar, brought out a piece of dried meat and prepared it for him; then he spent the night, then morning came.

He said: "Your family keeps a nobility: do you wish me to send you seven of them? And if I send you seven, I send seven to my wives."

Mus'ab al-Zubayri said: she was the first emigrant woman to enter Medina as an emigrant; Abu Salama was present at Badr; she bore him Umar, Salama, Zaynab and Durra.

Abu Usama: from al-A'mash, from Shaqiq, from Umm Salama, who said:

When Abu Salama died, I went to the Prophet, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, and said: "How shall I say?"

He said: "Say: O Allah, forgive us and him, and make me leave of him a righteous posterity."

I said it, and Allah made me leave Muhammad, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him.

And Muslim narrated in his Sahih that Abd Allah ibn Safwan entered upon Umm Salama during the caliphate of Yazid.

And Isma'il ibn Nashit narrated, from Shahr, who said: I came to Umm Salama to condole with her over al-Husayn.

Among the merits of the Mothers of the Believers is the word of the Most High: "O wives of the Prophet, you are not like any other women, if you fear Allah [...]", up to His word: "And establish prayer, give zakat, and obey Allah and His Messenger. Allah only wills to remove from you impurity, people of the house, and to purify you with purification; and remember what is recited in your houses of the verses of Allah and wisdom" (Surah al-Ahzab, verses 32 to 34).

These are noble verses concerning the wives of our Prophet, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him.

Zayd ibn al-Hubab said: al-Husayn ibn Waqid narrated to us; Yazid al-Nahwi; Ikrima; from Ibn Abbas: "Allah only wills to remove from you impurity, people of the house": he said: it came down concerning the women of the Prophet, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him.

Ikrima then said: whoever wishes, I shall wager with him that it came down concerning the women of the Prophet, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, specifically.

Ishaq al-Saluli: Isa ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami narrated to us; Abu Ishaq; Sila; Hudhayfa:

He said to his wife: "If it delights you to be my wife in Paradise, do not marry after me; the woman in Paradise belongs to the last of her husbands in this world; for that it was forbidden to the wives of the Prophet, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, to marry after him: they are his wives in Paradise."

Ata ibn al-Sa'ib narrated, from Muharib ibn Dithar:

That Umm Salama willed that Sa'id ibn Zayd, one of the Ten, pray over her.

That account is disconnected.

Sa'id indeed died years before her; perhaps she willed it at a time, then she recovered, and he preceded her.

It was narrated that Abu Hurayra prayed over her: that is not established, and he died before her.

She was buried at al-Baqi'.

Muhammad ibn Sa'd said: Muhammad ibn Umar informed us; Ibn Abi al-Zinad informed; Hisham ibn Urwa, from his father, from Aisha, who said:

When the Prophet, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, married Umm Salama, I grieved deeply over what they had told us of her beauty; I went gently until I saw her; I saw her, by Allah, many times over what had been described to me in beauty; I mentioned that to Hafsa, and they were as one hand.

She said: "No, by Allah: this is only jealousy; she is not as you say; she is indeed beautiful."

I saw her afterward: she was as Hafsa had said; but I was jealous.

Muslim al-Zanji: from Musa ibn Uqba, from his mother, from Umm Kulthum, who said:

When the Prophet, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, married Umm Salama, he said to her: "I have sent to the Negus skins of musk and a robe; I see him dead; and I see the gift as about to be returned; if it is returned, it is yours."

She said: it was as he said; he gave each of his women a skin, and gave the rest to Umm Salama, and the robe.

Al-Qa'nabi: Abd Allah ibn Ja'far al-Zuhri narrated to us, from Hisham ibn Urwa, from his father:

The Messenger of Allah ordered Umm Salama to pray the morning prayer at Mecca on the day of sacrifice, which was her day; she loved to reach him.

Al-Waqidi: from Ibn Jurayj, from Nafi', who said: Abu Hurayra prayed over Umm Salama.

I say: al-Waqidi is not relied upon, and Allah knows better, especially as he was contradicted.

In the Sahih of Muslim: that Abd Allah ibn Safwan entered upon Umm Salama during the caliphate of Yazid.

The death of Mother of the Believers Umm Salamah

Some dated her death in the year fifty-nine: they erred likewise; the apparent is that she died in the year sixty-one, may Allah be pleased with her.

The Prophet, peace and the salutation of Allah be upon him, married her as her 'idda ended, in Shawwal, in year four.

The number of her hadiths reaches three hundred seventy-eight.

Al-Bukhari and Muslim concurred on thirteen.

Al-Bukhari is alone on three, and Muslim on thirteen.