Umm Salama Hind bint Abi Umayya

Hind bint Abi Umayya, Hind al Makhzumiyah, Hind bint Suhayl, also called as Umm Salama (Mother of Salama) (Arabic: أم سلمة هند بنت أبي أمية)^{[citation needed]}.

Following Abdullah ibn Abdulasad’s death in the battle of Uhud she became known as Ayyin al-Arab - the one who had lost her husband^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

She was the daughter of a notable of Banu Makhzum nicknamed Zad ar-Rakib because of his generosity to travelers^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Muhammad's era

Umm Salama and her husband, Abd-Allah ibn Abd-al-Asad, were among the first who converted to Islam. Only Abu Bakr and a few others became Muslims before them^{[citation needed]}.

They had suffered at the hands of the Quraish who had tried to force them to abandon their new faith. Her husband was killed from the wounds he received in the battle of Uhud (23 March 625). She had four children with Abdullah before she married Muhammad: Salama, Umar, Zaynab, and Durra^{[citation needed]}.

Following Abdullah ibn Abdulasad’s death in the battle of Uhud she became known as Ayyin al-Arab - the one who had lost her husband. She had no family in Medina except her small children, but she was given support by both the Muhajirun and Ansar who felt they had a duty to her. When she completed the Iddah (ie. the waiting period of a woman who is either divorced, seeks an annulment or her husband dies which in this case is) four months and ten days, Abu Bakr and then Umar asked to marry her but she declined. Muhammad then approached her and she replied^{[citation needed]}:

"O Messenger of Allah, I have three characteristics. I am a woman who is extremely jealous and I am afraid that you will see in me something that will anger you and cause Allah to punish me. I am a woman who is already advanced in age and I am a woman who has a young family."^{[citation needed]}

Muhammad replied: "Regarding the jealousy you mentioned, I pray to Allah the Almighty to let it go away from you. Regarding the question of age you have mentioned. I am afflicted with the same problem as you. Regarding the dependent family you have mentioned, your family is my family."^{[citation needed]}

Umm Salama was married to Muhammad at the age of 29. Only his sixth and seventh wives (Umm Salamah and Zaynab, respectively) were his direct cousins whom he had known since their childhood. Umm Salamah was a widow with 3 children and a fourth born almost immediately after their marriage ^[1].

One of her "clients" became the mother of Hasan al-Basri. Tradition says that Umm Salama often nursed Hasan in his infancy^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] After Muhammad

Umm Salama died at the age of eighty four^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Shi'a view

Shi'as have a very positive view of her. They quote the sixth Shi'a Imam, the 8th century Ja'far al-Sadiq:

“

The books were kept by Ali. When he decided to make a journey to Iraq, he entrusted them to Umm Salamah. When he died, they were passed on to Imam Hasan, and from him to Imam Husayn. When he was martyred, they came into the possession of Ali b. Husayn, after which they were passed on to my father ^[2].

”

[edit] Hadith

Among the hadith she narrated are:

Hadith of truth

[edit] References

^ [1]
^ Imamate and Leadership [2] chapter "The Sources of the Imam's Knowledge" [3] by Mujtaba Musavi Lari quoting from al-Burujardi, Jami' Ahadith al-Shi'ah, Vol. I, p. 141. [4]

[edit] External links

Umm Salama

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umm_Salama_Hind_bint_Abi_Umayya"

Cizdabedar

Thursday, January 17, 2008