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Her real name was Hind, while her tittle was Umm Salamah. She came from the family of Makhzoom of the Quraish tribe. Her father’s name was Abu Mughira bin Abdullah bin Omar bin Makhzoom, while Atika bint Amir was her mother, who belonged to a family of Faras.
Her father was a rich person and generous to a fault and was well-known among his people for these qualities. Scores of people would dine at his table. When he used to travel, he would provide food for the whole caravan. Because of his great generosity, he was given the tittle Zad-al-Rakib and was looked upon with great respect and adulation by all the clans of Quraish
Umm Salamah was first married to her cousin Abu Salamah bin Abdul Asad. He was a young man with exceptionally good nature and unblemished conduct. It was improbable that this young man of exceptionally lofty morals and remained unmoved by the noble and life-giving message of the Noble Prophet (peace be on him).
Defying his tribesmen and braving heavy odds, Abu Salamah embraced the new revolutionary faith and entered the fold of Islam. Umm Salamah also followed suit.
Thus, the couple joined the rank of those noble souls, who had won the unique distinction of embracing the new faith in its early phase.
These noble souls suffered all kinds of hardships and harassment in the cause of Islam, but they did not budge even an inch from the right path had chosen. As the number of the people, who had embraced the new life-giving faith increased the persecution and torture meted out to them also increased in intensity.
When this persecution reached intolerable levels, the Noble Prophet gave permission to his followers to migrate to Abyssinia, which was rules at that time by kind-hearted king, in order to protect their religion and lives. According to some narration, Abu Salamah and Umm Salamah, who has already entered the fold of Islam, also migrated to Abyssinia. They came back to Makkah after spending some time in exile. From Makkah, they left for Madinah on their second migration. Those days, Abu Salamah had only one camel with him. He seated Umm Salamah and his young son, Salamah, at the saddle and holding the reins of his camel started on foot on his long journey distance, when the people of Bani Mughira, Umm Salamah’s family, came to know about the couple’s planned destination.
They intercepted the camel and told Abu Salamah that he could proceed, but they would not allow their daughter (Umm Salamah) to accompany him. They took away the reins of the camel from Abu Salamah and forced Umm Salamah to dismount. In the meantime, Banu Abdul Asad, the members of Abu Salamah’s clan, appeared on the scene and snatched Umm Salamah’s child from his mother and threatened Banu Mughira that if they did not allow their daughter to accompany her husband, they would also not allow the child to accompany his mother. As for Abu Salamah, they said that he was free to go anywhere he liked.
By this time, the Noble Prophet had given permission to his companions to migrate to Madinah, where they could live in peace and safety from the Quraish’s torture. Abu Salamah left for Madinah, leaving his wife and child behind. Umm Salamah was staying with the Bani Mughira while her child was in the custody of Banu Abdul Asad. Thus, the three of them – the father, the mother and the child – were undergoing the pain of living separately.
Umm Salamah was grief-stricken due the separation from her child and husband. Everyday she would go and sit forlorn on a hillock, crying and longing to join her husband and son. A whole one year passed like this.
On day, a kind-hearted and influential man from the clan of Banu Mughira her pathetic condition and was moved by her agony. He called out the people of his tribe and said: “This girls is our own flesh and blood, how long will we keep her away from her husband and child? By God! Our tribe is very brave and honorable, we can’t tolerate persecution of innocent people.”
Hearing this, her tribesmen gave permission to Umm Salamah to join her husband in Madinah. When Banu Abdul Asad heard of this, they also took pity and sent her child, Salamah, to her. Umm Salamah took the child and a camel to ride alone to Madinah. At Taneem, she met Othman bin Talhbin Abi Talha, a chivalrous and decent man of Makkah. When heUmm Salamah travelling alone with a small baby, he thought: “How unbecoming of me, if I did not escort this lonely women traveler of Quraish to Madinah.”
He took the reins of Umm Salamah’s camel and started for Madinah. Whenever they stopped on the way, Othman would withdraw to rest under the shade of a tree. This way they reached Quba, where abu Salamah was staying. At that time. Othman returned to Makkah and Umm Salamah rejoined her husbands, who thanked God for once again reuniting his family.
Umm Salmah always remained grateful to Othman for his thoughtful and kind gesture. She used to say: “ I have never seen a more gallant and compassionate man than Othman bin Talha.”
In the third Hijra year, Abu Salamah fought in the Battle of Uhud. In that historic and crucial battle, his arm was wounded by a poisoned arrow thrown by the enemy. He later recovered after treatment, but could survive only for a few months. His wound relapsed and ultimately Abu Salamah succumbed to that.
Umm Salamah was immensely grief-stricken at the demise of her loving husband. When the Prophet (peace be on him) knew about this, he went to offer condolences to her and asked her to have patience and bear the calamity with fortitude. Abu Salamah’s eyes had remained open when he died. The Prophet (peace be upon him) himself closed them.
While leading the funeral prayers, the prophet (peace be upon him) said glorification (takbeers) nine times. The people asked: “O Messenger of Allah! Why did you say the takbeer nine time? The Prophet (peace be on him) replied: “Abu Salamah was a companion of very high rank and, in fact, deserved not nine, but one thousand glorification’s”.
This shows that Abu Salamah enjoined a very lofty status and an honorable position among the followers of Allah’s Apostle. Once during his lifetime, Umm Salamah told her husband: “I have heard that if a women’s husband dies in her lifetime and she does not remarry, Allah would enter her to Paradise. Likewise, if a wife dies during the lifetime of her husband, and her husband does not remarry, Allah will also admit him to Paradise. Let us take a pledge that whosoever of us two dies first, would not marry for the second time.”
Abu Salamah then said: “Will you comply with my wish? “Umm Salamah nodded her approval saying that complying with his wish would give her greatest happiness. Abu Salamah then said to his wife: “ If I pass away before you, you must remarry.” Then Abu Salamah prayed: “O God! If I die in the lifetime of Umm Salamah please grant her husband better than my self.”
According to one narration, when the Prophet (peace be on him) paid a condolence visit to Umm Salamah after the death of her great husband, he asked her to pray Allah for according Abu Salamah the lofty rank of the righteous and granting her a better husband than him.
At this, Umm Salamah wondered who could be a better husband for her than Abu Salamah Later, after the Noble Prophet’s statement dawned on her. Ibn Sa’ad says that, seeing the forlorn state of Umm Salamah, after she was widowed, Abu Bakr sent her the proposal for marriage, which Umm Salamah declined.
The prophet (peace be on him) was greatly impressed with the courage, which Umm Salamah displayed in facing the misfortunes and adversities of life. He also felt greatly for her tragic situation and sent the proposal for marriage to her through Omar bin al-Khattab. Umm Salamah consented, and in Shawwal, the 4th Hijra year, her marriage to the Noble Prophet (peace be on him) took place.
After her marriage, she came to Zainab bin Khozaima’s house, another wife of the Noble prophet, who had died earlier. On the very first day she joined the Noble Prophet’s (peace be on him) household, she cooked food for him with her own hands. The Noble Prophet (peace be on him) had given Umm Salamah a leather pillow stuffed with the bark of the date-palm, two water skins and two grinders.
After her marriage to the Prophet (peace be on him), she continued looking after her children from her first husband, with great love and care. Once she asked the Prophet (peace be on him): “Messenger of Allah, Shall I get the reward for bringing up these children?” The Prophet (peace be on him) replied in the affirmation.
Safinah was a slave of Umm Salamah. She freed him on the condition that he would serve the Prophet (peace be on him) throughout his life. Abu Labahah Ansari was a plain-hearted companion of the prophet (peace be on him). After the Battle of Trench, the Prophet (peace be on him) laid siege to Banu Quraidha to punish them for the breach of their pledge and mischief-mongering. He sent Abu Lababah to hold negotiations with them.
In the course of negotiation, the Jews of Banu Quraidha somehow got a hint that the Prophet (peace be on him) was going to liquidate them. When Abu Lababah realized that he had unwittingly divulged a secret of the Muslims, he tied himself to one of the pillared of the Prophet’s Mosque with a rope, in a gesture of repentance and seeking forgiveness from Allah for his inadvertent mistake.
After a few days, the Prophet (peace be on him) happened to visit Umm Salamah. He was all smiles and told Umm Salamah that Allah had accepted Abu Lababah’s repentance that day. Umm Salamah was overjoyed at this news and asked the Prophet (peace be on him): “O Prophet! If you permit, I shall take myself this good news to Abu Lababah.” The Prophet (peace be on him) replied: “Yes, if you so desire.” Hearing the great news, Abu Lababah prostrated in gratitude to Allah. Other companion also came to know about this, and they gathered in mosque to congratulate Abu Lababah.
Once when the Prophet (peace be on him) was at Umm Salamah’s place, this verse was revealed to him:
“And Allah only wishes to remove all abomination from you, you members of the family and to make members of the family and make you pure and spotless.” (33:33)
At this, the Prophet (peace be on him) called Fatima Zahra, Ali Hasan and Husain and covered them with his blanket and said: “Allah! There are the members of may household.” Umm Salamah asked the prophet (peace be on him): “O Prophet! Am I also included among the household?” The Prophet (peace be on him) replied: “ You have your own place and that’s a good place for you.” Another narration reports the Prophet (peace be on him) as having replied: “Yes, you are, Allah willing.”
In the 6th Hijra year, the Prophet (peace be on him), accompanied by his 1,400 companions, decided to performs Hajj. When the Quraish learned about this, they decided to stop the Muslims from performing the pilgrimage. When he came to know about this, the Prophet (peace be on him) stayed back at Hudaibiyah, which was at a distance of few miles from Makkah and through Othman bin Affan sent a message to the Quraish, saying that he had not come with the intention to fight and only intended to performs Hajj.
After Othman had left, the rumour spread in the Muslims camp, that he had been killed by the non-believers in Makkah. On learning this, the Prophet (peace be on him) took the oath of allegiance from his companions to the effect that they would not hesitate to even lay down their lives to revenge them selves. This pledge is known as the Pledge of Ridhwan in the Islamic history.
Hearing this, the Quraish got scared and agree to sign a treaty with the Muslims, which consisted of the following clause:
1. Both parties will observe truce for a period of 10 years. There will be on restriction on the movement of person from either side.
2. The Muslims will be allowed to performs the Hajj next year. But they would be unarmed while performing the tawaf of Allah’s house.
3. All tribes would be free to join either of the parties as its allies.
4. If a person from the Quraish accepted Islam and joined the Prophet (peace be on him), he would be returned to the Quraish, if they were to demand so. But if an apostate Muslims joined the Quraish would not return him to Muslims.
The Prophet (peace be on him) accepted these condition in terms of the Divine command. But the Muslims felt dejected, as they thought that the treaty was loaded heavily in favour of the non-believers. The Prophet (peace be on him), after concluding the treaty, ordered the Muslims to slaughter animals in sacrifice. But the Muslims, who felt greatly dejected at the just-conclude treaty, hesitated in offering the sacrifice, at which the prophet (peace be on him) felt unhappy.
Umm Salamah was with the Prophet on this journey. When she heard of this, she told the Prophet (peace be on him): “O Prophet of Allah! The people haven’t fully understood your command. You should yourself go out of the tent offer the sacrifice, get your head shaven and take off the Ihram.” The Prophet (peace be on him), acting on her advice, offered sacrifice and shaved his head. When the companionthat the Prophet’s command was irrevocable, they at once sacrificed their animals and shaved their heads.
Umm Slammah was very fond of Listening to the Prophet’s saying. Once her coiffeur was dressing her hair, when the Prophet (peace be on him) ascended, the pulpit and started addressing the people. He started with his sermon, saying,
“O people, Hearing only that much from the Prophet, Umm Salamah asked the coiffeur with Umm Salamah suggesting that there was on hurry as the Prophet (peace be on him) had only said: “O people!” Umm Salamah stood up and rebuked her: “Aren’t we included among the people?” After that she listened to the Prophet’s (peace be on him) sermon with rapt attention.
Umm Salamah was greatly devoted to the Prophet (peace be on him) and kept from his sacred hair in a silver jar- a possession which she greatly cherished. According to Sahih Bukhari, whenever the companion had an ailment, they came to Umm Salamah, who stirred the sacred relic in the bowl filled with water. This would alleviate their pain. According to Musnad Ahmed, Umm Salamah once asked the Prophet (peace be on him): “O prophet! Why there is no mention of us women, in the Qur’an? “ At this, the Prophet (peace be on him) ascended the pulpit said:
“For Muslim men and women, for believing men and women, for devout men and women, for true men and women, for men and women, who are patient and constant, for men and women, who humble themselves, for men and women, who give in charity, for men and women, who fast, for men and women, who guard their chastity, for men and women, who engage much in Allah’s remembers: For them has Allah prepared for giveness and great reward.
Allama Ibn Sa’ad says that the 10th Hijra year, when the Prophet (peace be on him) fell ill, Umm Salamah often visited him. During that period, the Noble Prophet was staying with Ayesha. Once, during one such visit, when she found overwhelmed with grief and cried. The prophet (peace be on him) told her that it was not appropriate for a Believers to cry in despair or over an untoward happening.
Umm Salamah led a very simple and austere life. She was a devout worshiper. Every month, she fasted for three days (other than the fasting of Ramadan). Once she wore a necklace, which had a little amount of gold in it. The Prophet (peace be on him) did not like her wearing even this much of gold. So Umm Salamah immediately took it out or, according to another narration, broke it into pieces.
There is narration in Musnad Ahmed bin Hanbal, that in the 61st Hijra year, on the day, when Husain was martyred with his loyal companions in the Battle of Karbala, Umm Salamah dreamt that the Prophet (peace be on him) had come to her, his hair and beard covered with dust and himself looking very sad. She asked him: “O Prophet! What’s the matter?” The Prophet (peace be on him) said: “I am coming from the site of Husain’s killing.” Umm Salamah woke up and started crying. She said with a loud voice, may Allah curse them.”
Umm Salamah was very generous like her father. She implored others also to give away in the cause of Allah. Whatever she had, she would readily give away to a beggar or a needy person.
Once a few destitute came to her, among whom were some women as well. They begged for alms importunately. Umm Hassan, who was with Umm Salamah at that time, remonstrated with them. Umm Salamah stopped her and told her that no one should deny the beggars. Then she ordered her maid not to send them back empty-handed, and if there was nothing in the houses, she should give then just a few dates.
Umm Salamah has narrated 378 saying of the prophet (peace be on him). In moral excellence and nobility of conduct, she ranks, among the Prophet’s wives, next only to Ayesha. She was an excellent reciter of the Qur’an, and her style was much similar to the Prophet’s. She was endowed with exceptionally good and looks, knowledge, intelligence and sound judgement.
Allama Ibn Qayyim says that from her rulings on various issues, one whole book of jurisprudence can be compiled. Her rulings generally enjoy the Ummah’s consensus. At the age of 84, in the 63rd Hijra year, Umm Salamah departed to her eternal abode. Her funeral prayers were led by Abu Huraria.
Umm Salamah did not have any issue from the Prophet (peace be on him) although, she had four children__ two daughters and two sons __ from her first husband, Abu Salama. Their names are:
1. Salamah, who was born in Abyssinia, the Prophet (peace be on him) had married Umamah, the daughter of Hamazah, to him.
2. Omar, who became the governor of Bahrain and Persia during the caliphate of Ali.
3. Zainab.
4. Durrah
The latter two were daughters Umm Salamah had from her first husband, Abu Salamah.
By:Mrs. Iffat N. Jilani.
[From: The Muslim World League Journa
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