Umm Ayman
was Barakah bint Tha'labah, the freed slave and wet nurse of Abdullah ibn Abd
al-Muttalib, the father of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon
him). She was an Abyssinian woman captured by the Quraysh when they came to
destroy the Kaaba. She was known as Umm Ayman and was also called Umm al-Dhiba'
(Mother of the Gazelles). Other titles she held included "Freed slave of
the Messenger of God" (peace and blessings be upon him), "Weaned of
the Messenger of God", and "Servant of the Messenger of God."
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) inherited her from his father and
then freed her when he married Khadijah, the Mother of the Believers (may God
be pleased with her).
She later married Ubayd al-Khazraji and had a son named
Ayman with him, who was martyred at the Battle of Hunayn. When her husband,
Ubayd al-Khazraji, was martyred, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)
said in a mursal hadith: “Whoever wishes to marry a woman from among the people
of Paradise, let him marry Umm Ayman.” Zayd ibn Haritha then married her (Siyar
A'lam al-Nubala'). Zayd ibn Haritha was beloved by the Prophet (peace and
blessings be upon him) and was martyred at the Battle of Mu'tah. She bore him
Usama ibn Zayd, one of the most valiant knights of Islam, a leader whose
resolve never wavered and whose strength never faltered.
She embraced Islam at the very beginning, and it is said
that she embraced Islam after Khadija, Ali, and Zayd. Thus, she was among the
first women to embrace Islam.
She was one of the women who made two migrations. She
migrated with the Muslims to Abyssinia and also to Medina with Aisha and the
rest of the Prophet's family (peace and blessings be upon him).
Umm Ayman
was a blessed female companion who knew the Prophet (peace and blessings be
upon him) as a young child, as she was with Amina. When Umm Ayman, the
Prophet's mother, went to Medina to visit Banu Najjar, the maternal uncles of
his grandfather Abdul-Muttalib, she fell ill on the way back to Mecca and died
in al-Abwa'. Umm Ayman then took the Prophet back with her and became
his wet nurse, dedicating herself to his care and attention. She showered him
with affection, just as his grandfather Abdul-Muttalib had showered him with
love. God compensated him for the loss of his parents with the tenderness of
his grandfather and Umm Ayman. When Abdul-Muttalib passed away, the
Prophet stood weeping behind her bed, grieving his loss, as Umm Ayman
herself recounted.
Despite her advanced age, Umm Ayman participated
in the Battle of Uhud alongside the Prophet. She tended to the wounded and
provided water to the thirsty warriors. When she saw the men fleeing the
battlefield, she threw dust in the faces of those who ran away, saying to some
of them, "Here's the spindle and give me your sword!" She defended
the Prophet Muhammad with her sword when she saw people fleeing from him. In
the heat of battle, an arrow from Habban ibn al-`Arqa struck her, exposing her.
He laughed heartily, which distressed the Messenger of God (peace and blessings
be upon him). He handed Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas an arrow without a head and said to
him, “Shoot.” The arrow struck Habban in the hollow of his neck, and he fell
flat on his back, exposing his private parts. The Messenger of God laughed
until his molars were visible and said, “Sa`d has avenged her. God has answered
your prayer and guided your shot.”
In the Battle of Khaybar, twenty women accompanied the
Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), among them Umm Ayman
(may God be pleased with her). When her son Ayman stayed behind from the Battle
of Khaybar because his horse was sick, his mother described him as a coward.
In the expedition to Mu`tah, Zayd ibn Haritha (may God be
pleased with him) was killed. Umm Ayman received the news of her
husband's martyrdom with patience and acceptance. Then came the Battle of
Hunayn, in which her son was killed. Ayman, so she patiently endured and
entrusted her son to God Almighty, seeking His pleasure and the pleasure of His
Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him.
Umm Ayman witnessed
the Battle of Hunayn with her son, where the Muslims were on the verge of
defeat. Some of the Companions fled in terror. God Almighty depicted the
severity of the situation, saying: " Truly
Allah has given you victory on many battle fields, and on the Day of Hunain
(battle) when you rejoiced at your great number but it availed you naught and
the earth, vast as it is, was straitened for you, then you turned back in
flight (Surat At-Tawbah 9:25), but Umm Ayman and her son remained steadfast
in the presence of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).
Ayman continued fighting until he was martyred in that battle. During the
battle, she called out to the Muslims (for she had a speech impediment): “May
Allah make your feet firm!” (meaning, “Be steadfast!”). The Prophet (peace and
blessings be upon him) said to her: “Be quiet, Umm Ayman, for you have a speech
impediment.”
The days passed quickly, and the Messenger of Allah
(peace and blessings be upon him) passed away. The devastating news spread, and
darkness descended upon Medina and its surroundings with the loss of the
Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Umm Ayman stood
weeping in sorrow over the loss of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings
be upon him). It was narrated on the authority of Anas (may Allah be pleased
with him) that Abu Bakr said to Umar after the death of the Messenger of Allah
(peace and blessings be upon him): “Let us go to Umm Ayman and visit her
as the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to do.” And he
(the Prophet) visited her. He said, “When we arrived, she wept. They asked her,
‘Why are you weeping? What is with Allah is better for His Messenger.’ She
said, ‘I know that what is with Allah is better for His Messenger, but I weep
because revelation has ceased from the heavens.’ He said, ‘This moved them to
tears, and they began to weep with her.’” (Source: Sahih Ibn Majah; Al-Albani’s
ruling: Sahih).
Umm Ayman
passed away five months, or it is said, six months after the death of the
Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). May Allah be pleased with
her.
Umm Ayman
had many instances that demonstrate the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon
him) affection for her. For example, one of his playful interactions with her
was when she came to him one day and said, “Carry me.” He replied, “I will
carry you on the camel calf.” She said, “It cannot bear me, and I do not want
it.” He laughed and said, “No.” I will only carry you on him, he joked with her.
The people said to her, "Are camels anything but the offspring of
she-camels?"
She defended Aisha (may God be pleased with her) in the
incident of the slander: When the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon
him) asked her about Aisha, she said, "My hearing and sight are far
removed from ever knowing or thinking anything but good about her."
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