Lady Hind Umm Sallama

her descent

hind was the daughter of suhail who was known as abi umaya ibn almughira. she is from quraish and from the family of “makhzoum”. her grandfather almughira was known for his extreme generosity. lady hind was married to abu sallama abdullah ibn abdul assad al makhzoumi.

her qualities

um sallama was one of the most perfect women in reason and in manners. she and her husband abu sallama were among the first people who embraced islam. she immigrated with abi sallama to abyssinia, gave birth to sallama, returned to mecca, and then they immigrated to madinah. she also had another daughter and a son from her husband abu sallama. she was the first woman to immigrate to madinah. abu sallama died of a wound in the battle of uhud after fighting with dedication. abi salama always prayed to allah that his family would be left with the best. in the fourth 'hijri year 'post-immigration, the messenger of allah married umm salama after abu sallama's death; and she became the mother of all believers. abu sallama's children, sallama, omar, and zaynab were raised up by the generous messenger of allah (pbuh).

she was among those (medium level) who were known in the field of “fatwa”. her opinion concerning religious issues was seriously taken among others like othman, abu hurayra, abdullah ibn amr, and annas, etc.

her marriage to the prophet (pbuh)

when the number of days, after which a woman is allowed to marry another man after her first husband's death, passed, abu bakr proposed to her to marry her but she declined. the messenger of allah (pbuh), pitying her and her orphans who were the children of his foster brother, proposed to her. she said that she is not good enough for marriage. old as she was, she could never have more children. she said she is a jealous woman, and has children to support. the messenger of allah replied that he is older than her, and that allah purifies hearts from jealousy. umm sallama then sent her son omar ibn abi sallama to marry her to the messenger of allah (pbuh).

when they were married, lady a'isha may allah be pleased with her became very sad because of what she heard about umm sallama's beauty. when she saw her she said that she was more beautiful than she imagined her to be.

the messenger of allah (pbuh) once traveled and took with him lady safiya bint hoyay and lady umm sallama. the messenger of allah (pbuh) went to safiya's howdah thinking it is umm sallama's in umm sallama's day. the prophet started talking to safiya. umm sallama told him: "you speak to the daughter of the jew in my day. oh messenger of allah pray that allah would forgive me. that made me jealous..”

her characteristics and morals

umm sallama gave the messenger of allah a correct opinion on the day of hodaybeya. when the messenger of allah (pbuh) reconciled with the people of mecca, he told his companions to slaughter and then shave. not one man did what he said even when he told them three times. he left them and went to umm sallama and told her what happened. she told him to go out to them and do first what he asked them to do. the messenger of allah (pbuh) did as she told him; he started with the slaughter and shaving. when they saw him they immediately did the same.

umm sallama is one of the best examples for wives and mothers to follow in the way she raised her children, taught them good manners. she was a very good wife and mother. she was reasonable, had a solid character, could make her own decisions, and was very well mannered.

her role in narrating the prophet’s sayings (hadith)

umm sallama the mother of the believers narrated a lot of hadiths. she is considered the second narrator after lady a'isha; the mother of the believers. umm sallama narrated 378 hadiths according to the book of ibn mukhallad. bukhari and muslim agreed upon 13 of them. according to 'tohfat al ashraf' umm sallama narrated 158 hadiths.

the contents of her reported sayings

the presence of the two mothers of the believers, umm sallama and a'isha may allah be pleased with them among the companions of the prophet and outliving the prophet (pbuh) with many years made many people ask them questions to get the right islamic opinion from them. after the death of the mother of the believers a'isha in the year 58 hijri, umm sallama may allah be pleased with her - being the last of the mothers of the believers - was greatly sought for 'fatwa' and narration of hadiths. that made her narrations many. um sallama narrated a lot about purity, prayer, zakah, fasting, pilgrimage 'hajj', funerals, marriage, battles, etc. that proves her sharp memory and her interest in the prophet’s sayings 'hadiths'.

her students

a generation of students (men and women) from different countries reported her narrations:

-some of the companions, such as:

aisha, abu saeed al khudary, omar bin abi sallama, anas bin malik, barida al aslamy, sulaiman bin barida, abu rafi’ and ibn abbas- may allah be pleased with them all…

- some followers, such as:

saeed bin al musayyab, sulaiman bin yasaar, shakik bin sallama, abdullah bin abi malika, amer ash shu’abi, al aswad bin yazeed, mujahid, atta’ bin abi rabah, shahr bin hawshab, nafi’ bin jubair, and others…

-some of the women, such as:

um sallama’s daughter, hind bint al harith, safyya bint abi ubaid, umrah bint abdul rahman, and others.

-and some of al koufa women, such as:

umrah bint af’a, jisra bint dajajah, um masawer al hameeri, and others……

for more information see 'amal qirdash bint al hussein, the role of women in serving 'hadith' in the first three centuries, the book of umma, vol. 70.

her death

lady umm sallama lived for about ninety years and was the last mother of believers to die in the year 62 hijri.