Lady Hafsah

lady hafsah daughter of omar may allah be pleased with them

she is hafsah bint -omar the emir of believer (omar ibnul-khattab) may allah be pleased with them, she was born before five years of the mission of the prophet muhammad (pbuh). she was an honest wife to khanis bin-huthafa al-sahmi (one of the prophet’s (pbuh) companion) who emigrated twice, one to abyssinia with other emigrants in order to protect his religion, then to madinah in order to support his prophet (pbuh). he also witnessed the battle of badr first then the battle of uhud, in which he wounded then died. hafsah bint-omar became a widow when she was only twenty years old. 

the prophet's (pbuh) marriage to hafsah:

omar ibnul-khattab felt so sad for his young daughter, and he could not bare to see his daughter’s gloomy face after becoming a loneness widow, while she had lived a very happy matrimonial life. thus, he thought to find a husband to her after she finishes her iddah (the period prescribed by islamic law for a woman during which she may not remarry after being widowed or divorced).

many days passed and no one proposed to her, and omar did not know that the prophet (pbuh) intended to marry her and his companions abu-bakr and othman knew about that. when many days passed and his young sad widow daughter was suffering, he proposed her to abu-bakr who did not answer him, then he proposed her to othman who said: i see not to marry today. omar became so sad and complained to the prophet (pbuh) who said: hafsah would marry someone better than othman, and othman would marry someone better than hafsah..?!

but omar had no idea of what the prophet (pbuh) was saying, because of his great grief. after that the prophet (pbuh) proposed to her and omar accepted, with the great honor of being related to the prophet (pbuh) by marriage, and felt being nearer to the prophet and having the same position as abu bakr when the prophet married his daughter aisha.

then othman get married the prophet’s (pbuh) daughter umm-kulthum after the death of her sister ruqaia (his ex-wife). after the prophet (pbuh) married hafsah, omar met abu-bakr who apologized to him and said: do not be angry with me, i did not want to reveal the prophet’s (pbuh) secret of marrying hafsah, while if he did not do that, i would do.

thus, omar and his daughter became very happy, and blessed be the prophet (pbuh) who granted omar with this great honor of being related to him by marriage, and who eased hafsah’s suffering of widowhood and separation. the prophet (pbuh) married hafsah in the third year of emigration, with a dowry of 400 dirhams, and she was twenty years old only.

hafsah in the house of prophecy:

hafsah bint -omar ibnul-khattab may allah be pleased with them obtained the great honor as well as aisha bint-abu bakr, with the high rank between the other (believers’ mothers) may allah be pleased with them..!!

hafsah was the prophet’s (pbuh) third wife after sawdah and aisha.

however, sawda welcomed her, while aisha was confused of what to do with this young wife, the daughter of alfaruq (omar) who had glorified islam and terrified the unbelievers..!!

aisha kept silent with this unexpected marriage, although  she could not bear the idea of another wife (sawda), but now there is hafsah a third wife which means to share with them the one third?!

aisha decreased her jealousy of hafsah after the prophet's marriage to other wives: (zainab, umm salamah, 2ed zainab, juwayriah and safiyah), so she could not but to love her, and hafsah became glad for that.

hafsah’s characteristics:

hafsah the believers’ mother, who fasts frequently, and prays a lot at nights, as gabriel peace upon him witnessed, and told the prophet: "she is your wife – o messenger of allah – in paradise!!". she grasped allah’s sermons carefully, followed the holy quran - that she recited, contemplated and understood - in all her behaviors. her great concern of the holy quran attracted her father’s attention, therefore he entrusted the version of the holy quran - which was written in abu-bakr’s succession after the prophet’s death  identical to the last version revealed by gabriel to him twice in ramadan- to his daughter hafsah "the mother of all believers’ ".

keeping the version of the holy quran with hafsah:

"the precious charge"

kharijah bin-zaid bin-thabit reported from his father:“abu-bakr had orderd me to collect the whole quranic verses and write them down, so i did that by writing them down on  leafs and papyrus. after abu-bakr had passed away, omar wrote that in one leaf kept by him. when omar passed away too, this leaf had kept by hafsah, the prophet’s (pbuh) wife. then, othman asked hafsah to give him this leaf, and promised to return it back, and she accepted. so, he compared between this leaf and what he had of the copy of the holy quran and returned it back to her delightedly. so he ordered people to write whole holy quran down in one book.

this was the second collection of the holy quran by othman after the first one done by abu-bakr under omar’s consultation. because of the increased number of killing that happened to the men who memorized the quran while they were fighting (musailama al kathab). nearly seventy men of those memorizers were killed in al-yamamah battle.

the features of this act of collecting the holy quran:

first: everyone who had memorized any verse from the prophet (pbuh), came and reported it to zaid bin-thabet.

second: anyone who had written down any verse in the prophet's (pbuh) presence brought it to zaid.

third: zaid did not accept to write any verse unless it was written down in front of the prophet (pbuh).

forth: writing down the verses of the quran were applied after making a comparison between what had been memorized and what was written; they did not depend only on one of them.

fifth:zaid did not accept any verse reported by anyone until two men witnessed that he had listened and memorized from the prophet (pbuh) directly. thus, this is a team recording, and the team must consist of three or more.  

 

sixth: this collection and adjustment of the holy quran-as a first version- is done according to the last review between gabriel and the prophet (pbuh) before his death.

this great mission was done by zaid with the participation of omar ibnul-khattab. uroah bin-alzubaier reported that abu-bakr said to omar and zaid: “sit at the door of the mosque and write down any quranic verse reported by anyone having two witnesses”!!. in (jamal alquraa) alhafeth alsakhawi said: “the purpose of having two witnesses is either to witness that this written quranic verse had been written in front of the prophet (pbuh), or that this quranic verse is one of the various readings of the holy quran as it was revealed (in order to be in conformity with the various arabic dialects).

when the prophet’s companions agreed with the emir of the believer othman bin-affan to write one unified version of the holy quran and making copies of it, othman asked for the original leaf of the holy quran from hafsah.

this is the precious charge, which omar ibnul-khattab entrusted  with his daughter hafsah the mother of all believers, and which was kept by her faithfuly and which she took care of carefully. so, the companions, their followers, and the followers of the followers until nowadays and until the doomsday, will acknowledge her great deed whenever telling the story of collecting the holy quran in the days of abu-bakr and othman. hafsah continued her good deeds of praying and fasting after the death of othman and ali until she passed away in the onset of muawia’s era. the people of madinah farewelled her to her final resting place in albaqie' with the other mothers of all may allah be pleased with them all.