1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,000 In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. 2 00:00:15,609 --> 00:00:17,609 The Mawaddah Association is pleased 3 00:00:17,609 --> 00:00:19,609 to present to you 4 00:00:19,609 --> 00:00:22,609 "Portraits from the Lives of the Female Companions" 5 00:00:22,609 --> 00:00:26,739 by Dr. Abd al-Rahman Ra'fat al-Basha, 6 00:00:26,739 --> 00:00:28,739 may Allah have mercy on him. 7 00:00:28,739 --> 00:00:31,820 Umm Salamah, 8 00:00:31,820 --> 00:00:33,820 may Allah be pleased with her. 9 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:47,960 Umm Salamah— 10 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:50,960 and what can make you know who Umm Salamah was! 11 00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:55,439 As for her father, he was one of the prominent chieftains of Makhzum, 12 00:00:55,439 --> 00:00:59,439 and one of the most famously generous men among the Arabs, 13 00:00:59,439 --> 00:01:01,439 so much so that he was called 14 00:01:01,439 --> 00:01:03,439 "Zad al-Rakib" (The Provisioner of the Traveler), 15 00:01:03,439 --> 00:01:05,439 because no travelers needed to carry provisions 16 00:01:05,439 --> 00:01:07,439 whenever they headed for his dwellings 17 00:01:07,439 --> 00:01:09,439 or traveled in his company. 18 00:01:09,439 --> 00:01:12,439 As for her husband, he was Abdullah ibn Abd al-Asad, 19 00:01:12,439 --> 00:01:15,439 one of the first ten foremost pioneers in embracing Islam, 20 00:01:15,439 --> 00:01:19,439 for no one accepted Islam before him except Abu Bakr al-Siddiq 21 00:01:19,439 --> 00:01:23,439 and a small group numbering fewer than the fingers on two hands. 22 00:01:23,439 --> 00:01:26,439 Her name was Hind, 23 00:01:26,439 --> 00:01:28,439 but she was known by the agnomen (kunya) of Umm Salamah, 24 00:01:28,439 --> 00:01:30,439 and that kunya eventually prevailed as her name. 25 00:01:30,439 --> 00:01:33,439 Umm Salamah accepted Islam alongside her husband, 26 00:01:33,439 --> 00:01:37,439 thus becoming among the foremost pioneering women in Islam as well. 27 00:01:37,439 --> 00:01:41,439 No sooner had the news of the conversion of Umm Salamah and her husband spread 28 00:01:41,439 --> 00:01:44,439 than Quraysh erupted in violent fury, 29 00:01:44,439 --> 00:01:47,439 pouring down upon them such torment and persecution 30 00:01:47,439 --> 00:01:49,439 as would shake solid rocks. 31 00:01:49,439 --> 00:01:53,439 Yet the couple did not weaken, nor waver, nor hesitate. 32 00:01:53,439 --> 00:01:55,439 When the persecution grew intensely severe against them, 33 00:01:55,439 --> 00:01:59,439 and the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, granted permission 34 00:01:59,439 --> 00:02:01,439 to his Companions to emigrate to Abyssinia, 35 00:02:01,439 --> 00:02:04,439 they were at the forefront of the emigrants. 36 00:02:04,439 --> 00:02:08,439 Umm Salamah and her husband departed to the land of exile, 37 00:02:08,439 --> 00:02:12,439 leaving behind in Makkah her palatial home, 38 00:02:12,439 --> 00:02:15,439 her towering honor, and her noble lineage, 39 00:02:15,439 --> 00:02:18,439 seeking the reward for all of that with Allah alone, 40 00:02:18,439 --> 00:02:21,439 deeming it insignificant for the sake of His pleasure. 41 00:02:21,439 --> 00:02:27,439 Despite the protection Umm Salamah and her companions received from the Negus— 42 00:02:27,439 --> 00:02:29,439 may Allah brighten his face in Paradise— 43 00:02:29,439 --> 00:02:33,439 the yearning for Makkah, the site of revelation, 44 00:02:33,439 --> 00:02:36,439 and the longing for the Messenger of Allah, the source of guidance, 45 00:02:36,439 --> 00:02:40,439 tore deeply at her heart and the heart of her husband. 46 00:02:40,439 --> 00:02:44,629 Then successive reports reached the emigrants in the land of Abyssinia 47 00:02:44,629 --> 00:02:48,629 that the Muslims in Makkah had grown in number, 48 00:02:48,629 --> 00:02:51,629 and that the conversions of Hamzah ibn Abd al-Muttalib 49 00:02:51,629 --> 00:02:54,629 and Umar ibn al-Khattab had strengthened their ranks 50 00:02:54,629 --> 00:02:57,629 and curbed some of Quraysh's harm against them. 51 00:02:57,629 --> 00:03:00,629 Thereupon, a group among them resolved to return to Makkah, 52 00:03:00,629 --> 00:03:04,629 driven by yearning and summoned by nostalgia, 53 00:03:04,629 --> 00:03:08,629 and Umm Salamah and her husband were among the foremost returnees. 54 00:03:08,629 --> 00:03:11,629 But the returnees soon discovered 55 00:03:11,629 --> 00:03:15,629 that the reports conveyed to them had been exaggerated, 56 00:03:15,629 --> 00:03:20,629 and that the surge the Muslims experienced after the conversions of Hamzah and Umar 57 00:03:20,629 --> 00:03:23,629 had been met by Quraysh with an even fiercer assault. 58 00:03:23,629 --> 00:03:27,629 The polytheists devised new ways to torture and terrorize the Muslims, 59 00:03:27,629 --> 00:03:32,629 inflicting upon them a ferocity they had never experienced before. 60 00:03:32,629 --> 00:03:37,699 At that point, the Messenger, peace be upon him, granted permission 61 00:03:37,699 --> 00:03:40,699 to his Companions to emigrate to Medina. 62 00:03:40,699 --> 00:03:44,699 Umm Salamah and her husband resolved to be among the first to emigrate, 63 00:03:44,699 --> 00:03:48,699 fleeing to safeguard their faith and escaping the persecution of Quraysh. 64 00:03:49,699 --> 00:03:55,699 But the emigration of Umm Salamah and her husband was not as easy and smooth as they had imagined; 65 00:03:55,699 --> 00:03:58,699 rather, it was arduous and bitter, 66 00:03:58,699 --> 00:04:03,699 leaving in its wake a tragedy beside which every other tragedy pales. 67 00:04:03,699 --> 00:04:08,699 Let us leave the floor to Umm Salamah to recount for us the story of her tragedy, 68 00:04:08,699 --> 00:04:11,699 for her experience of it was more intense and profound, 69 00:04:11,699 --> 00:04:14,699 and her depiction of it is more precise and eloquent. 70 00:04:14,699 --> 00:04:19,889 Umm Salamah said: "When Abu Salamah resolved to set out for Medina, 71 00:04:19,889 --> 00:04:23,889 he prepared a camel for me and helped me mount it, 72 00:04:23,889 --> 00:04:25,889 placed our young son, Salamah, in my lap, 73 00:04:25,889 --> 00:04:30,889 and set off leading the camel, turning his back on everything else. 74 00:04:30,889 --> 00:04:35,889 Before we could depart from Makkah, men from my clan, Banu Makhzum, spotted us. 75 00:04:35,889 --> 00:04:38,889 They confronted us and said to Abu Salamah: 76 00:04:38,889 --> 00:04:43,889 'If you have overpowered us concerning yourself, what about this woman of yours? 77 00:04:43,889 --> 00:04:49,889 She is our daughter; why should we allow you to take her from us and journey with her through the land?' 78 00:04:49,889 --> 00:04:53,889 Then they pounced on him and tore me away from his grasp. 79 00:04:53,889 --> 00:04:56,889 When the clan of my husband, Banu Abd al-Asad, saw them 80 00:04:56,889 --> 00:05:00,889 seizing me and my child, they became exceedingly enraged, 81 00:05:00,889 --> 00:05:05,889 and said: 'No, by Allah! We will not leave the child with your woman, 82 00:05:05,889 --> 00:05:08,889 after you have violently torn her away from our kinsman! 83 00:05:08,889 --> 00:05:11,889 He is our son, and we have a greater right to him.' 84 00:05:11,889 --> 00:05:16,889 They then began pulling and tugging at my child Salamah between them before my very eyes, 85 00:05:16,889 --> 00:05:19,889 until they dislocated his arm and took him away. 86 00:05:19,889 --> 00:05:25,889 In mere moments, I found myself shattered, all alone and abandoned: 87 00:05:25,889 --> 00:05:29,889 my husband had headed toward Medina, fleeing to preserve his faith and life, 88 00:05:29,889 --> 00:05:35,889 my child was snatched from my arms by Banu Abd al-Asad, injured and crippled, 89 00:05:35,889 --> 00:05:40,949 while I was held captive by my clan, Banu Makhzum, 90 00:05:40,949 --> 00:05:42,949 who kept me confined with them. 91 00:05:42,949 --> 00:05:46,949 Thus, within a single hour, a rift was torn between me, my husband, and my son. 92 00:05:46,949 --> 00:05:53,110 From that day on, I would go out every morning to al-Abtah, 93 00:05:53,110 --> 00:05:56,110 sitting in the very place that had witnessed my tragedy, 94 00:05:56,110 --> 00:06:03,110 recalling the moments when I was torn apart from my child and my husband, 95 00:06:03,110 --> 00:06:07,240 and I would remain weeping until nightfall descended upon me. 96 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:11,240 I continued in this state for a year, or nearly a year, 97 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:17,240 until a man from among my cousins passed by me, took pity on my condition, and felt compassion for me. 98 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:21,240 He said to my clansmen: 'Will you not let this poor woman go? 99 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:25,240 You have separated her from her husband and from her child!' 100 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:32,240 He kept appealing to them, softening their hearts and eliciting their sympathy, until they said to me: 101 00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:35,370 'Join your husband if you wish.' 102 00:06:35,370 --> 00:06:39,370 But how could I join my husband in Medina 103 00:06:39,370 --> 00:06:44,370 while leaving my child, the piece of my heart, in Makkah with Banu Abd al-Asad? 104 00:06:44,370 --> 00:06:49,430 How could my burning grief subside or the tears in my eyes dry 105 00:06:49,430 --> 00:06:51,430 while I was in the land of emigration 106 00:06:51,430 --> 00:06:55,430 and my little boy remained in Makkah, knowing nothing of his fate? 107 00:06:55,430 --> 00:07:00,459 Then some people saw the deep sorrow and anguish I was enduring, 108 00:07:00,459 --> 00:07:02,459 and their hearts softened toward my plight. 109 00:07:02,459 --> 00:07:05,459 They spoke to Banu Abd al-Asad on my behalf 110 00:07:05,459 --> 00:07:09,459 and pleaded with them for my sake, so they returned my son Salamah to me. 111 00:07:09,459 --> 00:07:14,660 I did not want to linger in Makkah until I could find someone to travel with, 112 00:07:14,660 --> 00:07:18,660 for I feared that something unexpected might happen 113 00:07:18,660 --> 00:07:21,660 that would prevent me from reaching my husband. 114 00:07:21,660 --> 00:07:24,660 Therefore, I hastened, prepared my camel, 115 00:07:24,660 --> 00:07:26,660 placed my son in my lap, 116 00:07:26,660 --> 00:07:29,660 and set out heading toward Medina, 117 00:07:29,660 --> 00:07:31,660 seeking my husband, 118 00:07:31,660 --> 00:07:34,660 with not a single soul among Allah's creation accompanying me. 119 00:07:34,660 --> 00:07:38,660 No sooner had I reached al-Tan'im than I met Uthman ibn Talhah. 120 00:07:38,660 --> 00:07:42,660 He asked: 'Where are you heading, O daughter of Zad al-Rakib?' 121 00:07:42,660 --> 00:07:45,660 I replied: 'I want to reach my husband in Medina.' 122 00:07:45,660 --> 00:07:48,660 He asked: 'Is there no one with you?' 123 00:07:48,660 --> 00:07:51,660 I said: 'No, by Allah, 124 00:07:51,660 --> 00:07:54,660 none except Allah, and then this son of mine.' 125 00:07:54,660 --> 00:07:57,660 He said: 'By Allah, I will never leave you unattended.' 126 00:07:58,660 --> 00:08:01,660 Then he took hold of my camel's halter 127 00:08:01,660 --> 00:08:03,660 and set off swiftly leading me. 128 00:08:03,660 --> 00:08:06,660 By Allah, I have never accompanied any Arab man 129 00:08:06,660 --> 00:08:09,660 more noble or honorable than him. 130 00:08:09,660 --> 00:08:12,660 Whenever he reached a halting place, he would make my camel kneel, 131 00:08:12,660 --> 00:08:14,660 then step back away from me. 132 00:08:14,660 --> 00:08:16,660 Once I had dismounted from its back 133 00:08:16,660 --> 00:08:18,660 and settled safely upon the ground, 134 00:08:18,660 --> 00:08:20,660 he would approach the camel, unload its saddle, 135 00:08:20,660 --> 00:08:24,660 lead it to a tree, and tether it there. 136 00:08:24,660 --> 00:08:27,660 Then he would retreat from me toward another tree 137 00:08:27,660 --> 00:08:29,660 and lie down to rest in its shade. 138 00:08:29,660 --> 00:08:31,660 When the time to resume the journey came, 139 00:08:31,660 --> 00:08:33,659 he would go to my camel, 140 00:08:33,659 --> 00:08:35,659 saddle it, and bring it over to me. 141 00:08:35,659 --> 00:08:37,659 Then he would step back from me and say: 142 00:08:37,659 --> 00:08:39,659 'Mount.' 143 00:08:39,659 --> 00:08:42,659 Once I had mounted and settled firmly upon the camel, 144 00:08:42,659 --> 00:08:45,659 he would come forward, take its halter, and lead it. 145 00:08:45,659 --> 00:08:48,659 He continued to do the same every single day 146 00:08:48,659 --> 00:08:50,659 until we reached Medina. 147 00:08:50,659 --> 00:08:52,659 When he looked upon the village of Quba' 148 00:08:52,659 --> 00:08:54,659 belonging to Banu Amr ibn Awf, 149 00:08:54,659 --> 00:08:57,659 he said: 'Your husband is in this village, 150 00:08:57,659 --> 00:09:00,659 so enter it with the blessing of Allah.' 151 00:09:00,659 --> 00:09:03,750 Then he departed, heading back to Makkah. 152 00:09:03,750 --> 00:09:05,750 Thus the scattered family was reunited 153 00:09:05,750 --> 00:09:07,750 after a long separation; 154 00:09:07,750 --> 00:09:10,750 Umm Salamah's eyes were comforted by her husband, 155 00:09:10,750 --> 00:09:13,750 and Abu Salamah rejoiced in his wife and child. 156 00:09:13,750 --> 00:09:15,750 Thereafter, events began 157 00:09:15,750 --> 00:09:18,779 unfolding rapidly in the blink of an eye: 158 00:09:18,779 --> 00:09:20,779 there was Badr, 159 00:09:20,779 --> 00:09:24,779 witnessed by Abu Salamah, returning from it with the Muslims 160 00:09:24,779 --> 00:09:27,779 having achieved a decisive victory; 161 00:09:27,779 --> 00:09:29,779 and there was Uhud, 162 00:09:29,779 --> 00:09:31,779 plunging into its thickest fray after Badr, 163 00:09:31,779 --> 00:09:34,779 fighting therein with the utmost valor and nobility. 164 00:09:34,779 --> 00:09:37,779 Yet he emerged from it 165 00:09:37,779 --> 00:09:39,779 having sustained a severe wound. 166 00:09:39,779 --> 00:09:41,779 He continued to treat it 167 00:09:41,779 --> 00:09:44,779 until it appeared to him to have healed, 168 00:09:44,779 --> 00:09:47,779 but the wound had only closed over an underlying infection; 169 00:09:47,779 --> 00:09:49,779 before long, it broke open anew, 170 00:09:49,779 --> 00:09:52,779 confining Abu Salamah to his bed. 171 00:09:52,779 --> 00:09:55,779 While Abu Salamah was nursing his wound, 172 00:09:55,779 --> 00:09:57,779 he said to his wife: 173 00:09:57,779 --> 00:09:59,779 'O Umm Salamah, 174 00:09:59,779 --> 00:10:02,779 I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, 175 00:10:02,779 --> 00:10:05,779 say: "No person is afflicted with a calamity 176 00:10:05,779 --> 00:10:08,779 and then utters the Istirja' (declaring that to Allah we belong and to Him we return) and says: 177 00:10:08,779 --> 00:10:11,779 'O Allah, with You I seek the reward for this calamity of mine; 178 00:10:11,779 --> 00:10:14,779 O Allah, compensate me with something better than it,' 179 00:10:14,779 --> 00:10:17,779 except that Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, grants him that."' 180 00:10:17,779 --> 00:10:21,850 Abu Salamah remained on his sickbed for several days. 181 00:10:21,850 --> 00:10:23,850 One morning, 182 00:10:23,850 --> 00:10:26,850 the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, came to him 183 00:10:26,850 --> 00:10:27,850 to visit him in his illness. 184 00:10:27,850 --> 00:10:30,850 Hardly had he finished his visit 185 00:10:30,850 --> 00:10:32,850 and stepped past the door of his house 186 00:10:32,850 --> 00:10:35,980 when Abu Salamah passed away. 187 00:10:35,980 --> 00:10:38,980 The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, closed 188 00:10:38,980 --> 00:10:41,980 the eyes of his companion with his two noble hands, 189 00:10:41,980 --> 00:10:45,039 raised his gaze to the heaven, and said: 190 00:10:45,039 --> 00:10:48,039 'O Allah, forgive Abu Salamah, 191 00:10:48,039 --> 00:10:51,039 raise his rank among those brought near, 192 00:10:51,039 --> 00:10:54,039 appoint a successor for those he leaves behind among the survivors, 193 00:10:54,039 --> 00:10:58,039 forgive us and him, O Lord of the worlds, 194 00:10:58,039 --> 00:11:00,039 make his grave spacious for him, 195 00:11:00,039 --> 00:11:02,039 and illuminate it for him.' 196 00:11:02,039 --> 00:11:04,230 As for Umm Salamah, 197 00:11:04,230 --> 00:11:07,230 she remembered what Abu Salamah had narrated to her 198 00:11:07,230 --> 00:11:10,230 from the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, 199 00:11:10,230 --> 00:11:11,230 So she said, 200 00:11:11,230 --> 00:11:14,230 "O Allah, with You I seek reward for this calamity of mine," 201 00:11:14,230 --> 00:11:17,230 but she could not bring herself to say, 202 00:11:17,230 --> 00:11:20,230 "O Allah, replace him for me with someone better than him." 203 00:11:20,230 --> 00:11:23,230 For she wondered, 204 00:11:23,230 --> 00:11:27,230 "Who could possibly be better than Abu Salamah?" 205 00:11:27,230 --> 00:11:30,230 Yet, before long, she completed the supplication. 206 00:11:30,230 --> 00:11:33,259 The Muslims grieved over Umm Salamah's misfortune 207 00:11:33,259 --> 00:11:36,259 as they had never grieved for anyone's misfortune before, 208 00:11:36,259 --> 00:11:39,259 and called her "the widow of the Arabs," 209 00:11:39,259 --> 00:11:43,259 as she had no family in Medina 210 00:11:43,259 --> 00:11:46,259 except for little children like fledgling sandgrouse chicks. 211 00:11:46,259 --> 00:11:49,259 Both the Emigrants and the Ansar felt 212 00:11:49,259 --> 00:11:52,259 their shared duty toward Umm Salamah. 213 00:11:52,259 --> 00:11:55,259 No sooner had her mourning period for Abu Salamah ended 214 00:11:55,259 --> 00:11:58,259 than Abu Bakr al-Siddiq approached her, 215 00:11:58,259 --> 00:12:01,259 proposing marriage to her for himself, 216 00:12:01,259 --> 00:12:04,259 but she declined his proposal. 217 00:12:04,259 --> 00:12:07,259 Then Umar Ibn al-Khattab approached her, 218 00:12:07,259 --> 00:12:10,259 and she turned him down just as she had turned down his companion. 219 00:12:10,259 --> 00:12:14,259 Then the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, approached her, 220 00:12:14,259 --> 00:12:17,259 and she said to him, 221 00:12:17,259 --> 00:12:20,259 "O Messenger of Allah, I have three traits: 222 00:12:20,259 --> 00:12:23,259 I am a fiercely jealous woman, 223 00:12:23,259 --> 00:12:26,259 and I fear you might see something in me that displeases you, 224 00:12:26,259 --> 00:12:29,259 causing Allah to punish me for it; 225 00:12:29,259 --> 00:12:32,259 I am an advanced woman in age; 226 00:12:32,259 --> 00:12:35,360 and I am a woman with dependent children." 227 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:38,360 So the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, 228 00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:42,360 "I will pray to Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, to take jealousy away from you; 229 00:12:42,360 --> 00:12:45,360 as for the age you mentioned, 230 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:48,360 I have been affected by the same age as you; 231 00:12:48,360 --> 00:12:51,360 and as for the children you mentioned, 232 00:12:51,360 --> 00:12:54,360 your children are my children." 233 00:12:54,360 --> 00:12:57,360 Then the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, married 234 00:12:57,360 --> 00:13:00,360 Umm Salamah, 235 00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:03,360 so Allah answered her supplication 236 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:06,360 and granted her someone far better than Abu Salamah. 237 00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:10,360 Hind al-Makhzumiyyah was no longer just the mother of Salamah alone; 238 00:13:10,360 --> 00:13:13,360 rather, she became the Mother of all the Believers. 239 00:13:13,360 --> 00:13:16,360 May Allah brighten the face of Umm Salamah in Paradise, 240 00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:19,360 and may He be pleased with her and make her pleased— 241 00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:22,740 Umm Salamah, 242 00:13:22,740 --> 00:13:26,159 may Allah be pleased with her.