WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.000 In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. 00:00:15.609 --> 00:00:17.609 The Mawaddah Association is pleased 00:00:17.609 --> 00:00:19.609 to present to you 00:00:19.609 --> 00:00:22.609 "Portraits from the Lives of the Female Companions" 00:00:22.609 --> 00:00:26.739 by Dr. Abd al-Rahman Ra'fat al-Basha, 00:00:26.739 --> 00:00:28.739 may Allah have mercy on him. 00:00:28.739 --> 00:00:31.820 Umm Salamah, 00:00:31.820 --> 00:00:33.820 may Allah be pleased with her. 00:00:46.960 --> 00:00:47.960 Umm Salamah— 00:00:47.960 --> 00:00:50.960 and what can make you know who Umm Salamah was! 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:55.439 As for her father, he was one of the prominent chieftains of Makhzum, 00:00:55.439 --> 00:00:59.439 and one of the most famously generous men among the Arabs, 00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:01.439 so much so that he was called 00:01:01.439 --> 00:01:03.439 "Zad al-Rakib" (The Provisioner of the Traveler), 00:01:03.439 --> 00:01:05.439 because no travelers needed to carry provisions 00:01:05.439 --> 00:01:07.439 whenever they headed for his dwellings 00:01:07.439 --> 00:01:09.439 or traveled in his company. 00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:12.439 As for her husband, he was Abdullah ibn Abd al-Asad, 00:01:12.439 --> 00:01:15.439 one of the first ten foremost pioneers in embracing Islam, 00:01:15.439 --> 00:01:19.439 for no one accepted Islam before him except Abu Bakr al-Siddiq 00:01:19.439 --> 00:01:23.439 and a small group numbering fewer than the fingers on two hands. 00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:26.439 Her name was Hind, 00:01:26.439 --> 00:01:28.439 but she was known by the agnomen (kunya) of Umm Salamah, 00:01:28.439 --> 00:01:30.439 and that kunya eventually prevailed as her name. 00:01:30.439 --> 00:01:33.439 Umm Salamah accepted Islam alongside her husband, 00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:37.439 thus becoming among the foremost pioneering women in Islam as well. 00:01:37.439 --> 00:01:41.439 No sooner had the news of the conversion of Umm Salamah and her husband spread 00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:44.439 than Quraysh erupted in violent fury, 00:01:44.439 --> 00:01:47.439 pouring down upon them such torment and persecution 00:01:47.439 --> 00:01:49.439 as would shake solid rocks. 00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:53.439 Yet the couple did not weaken, nor waver, nor hesitate. 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:55.439 When the persecution grew intensely severe against them, 00:01:55.439 --> 00:01:59.439 and the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, granted permission 00:01:59.439 --> 00:02:01.439 to his Companions to emigrate to Abyssinia, 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:04.439 they were at the forefront of the emigrants. 00:02:04.439 --> 00:02:08.439 Umm Salamah and her husband departed to the land of exile, 00:02:08.439 --> 00:02:12.439 leaving behind in Makkah her palatial home, 00:02:12.439 --> 00:02:15.439 her towering honor, and her noble lineage, 00:02:15.439 --> 00:02:18.439 seeking the reward for all of that with Allah alone, 00:02:18.439 --> 00:02:21.439 deeming it insignificant for the sake of His pleasure. 00:02:21.439 --> 00:02:27.439 Despite the protection Umm Salamah and her companions received from the Negus— 00:02:27.439 --> 00:02:29.439 may Allah brighten his face in Paradise— 00:02:29.439 --> 00:02:33.439 the yearning for Makkah, the site of revelation, 00:02:33.439 --> 00:02:36.439 and the longing for the Messenger of Allah, the source of guidance, 00:02:36.439 --> 00:02:40.439 tore deeply at her heart and the heart of her husband. 00:02:40.439 --> 00:02:44.629 Then successive reports reached the emigrants in the land of Abyssinia 00:02:44.629 --> 00:02:48.629 that the Muslims in Makkah had grown in number, 00:02:48.629 --> 00:02:51.629 and that the conversions of Hamzah ibn Abd al-Muttalib 00:02:51.629 --> 00:02:54.629 and Umar ibn al-Khattab had strengthened their ranks 00:02:54.629 --> 00:02:57.629 and curbed some of Quraysh's harm against them. 00:02:57.629 --> 00:03:00.629 Thereupon, a group among them resolved to return to Makkah, 00:03:00.629 --> 00:03:04.629 driven by yearning and summoned by nostalgia, 00:03:04.629 --> 00:03:08.629 and Umm Salamah and her husband were among the foremost returnees. 00:03:08.629 --> 00:03:11.629 But the returnees soon discovered 00:03:11.629 --> 00:03:15.629 that the reports conveyed to them had been exaggerated, 00:03:15.629 --> 00:03:20.629 and that the surge the Muslims experienced after the conversions of Hamzah and Umar 00:03:20.629 --> 00:03:23.629 had been met by Quraysh with an even fiercer assault. 00:03:23.629 --> 00:03:27.629 The polytheists devised new ways to torture and terrorize the Muslims, 00:03:27.629 --> 00:03:32.629 inflicting upon them a ferocity they had never experienced before. 00:03:32.629 --> 00:03:37.699 At that point, the Messenger, peace be upon him, granted permission 00:03:37.699 --> 00:03:40.699 to his Companions to emigrate to Medina. 00:03:40.699 --> 00:03:44.699 Umm Salamah and her husband resolved to be among the first to emigrate, 00:03:44.699 --> 00:03:48.699 fleeing to safeguard their faith and escaping the persecution of Quraysh. 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; 00:03:55.699 --> 00:03:58.699 rather, it was arduous and bitter, 00:03:58.699 --> 00:04:03.699 leaving in its wake a tragedy beside which every other tragedy pales. 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, 00:04:08.699 --> 00:04:11.699 for her experience of it was more intense and profound, 00:04:11.699 --> 00:04:14.699 and her depiction of it is more precise and eloquent. 00:04:14.699 --> 00:04:19.889 Umm Salamah said: "When Abu Salamah resolved to set out for Medina, 00:04:19.889 --> 00:04:23.889 he prepared a camel for me and helped me mount it, 00:04:23.889 --> 00:04:25.889 placed our young son, Salamah, in my lap, 00:04:25.889 --> 00:04:30.889 and set off leading the camel, turning his back on everything else. 00:04:30.889 --> 00:04:35.889 Before we could depart from Makkah, men from my clan, Banu Makhzum, spotted us. 00:04:35.889 --> 00:04:38.889 They confronted us and said to Abu Salamah: 00:04:38.889 --> 00:04:43.889 'If you have overpowered us concerning yourself, what about this woman of yours? 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?' 00:04:49.889 --> 00:04:53.889 Then they pounced on him and tore me away from his grasp. 00:04:53.889 --> 00:04:56.889 When the clan of my husband, Banu Abd al-Asad, saw them 00:04:56.889 --> 00:05:00.889 seizing me and my child, they became exceedingly enraged, 00:05:00.889 --> 00:05:05.889 and said: 'No, by Allah! We will not leave the child with your woman, 00:05:05.889 --> 00:05:08.889 after you have violently torn her away from our kinsman! 00:05:08.889 --> 00:05:11.889 He is our son, and we have a greater right to him.' 00:05:11.889 --> 00:05:16.889 They then began pulling and tugging at my child Salamah between them before my very eyes, 00:05:16.889 --> 00:05:19.889 until they dislocated his arm and took him away. 00:05:19.889 --> 00:05:25.889 In mere moments, I found myself shattered, all alone and abandoned: 00:05:25.889 --> 00:05:29.889 my husband had headed toward Medina, fleeing to preserve his faith and life, 00:05:29.889 --> 00:05:35.889 my child was snatched from my arms by Banu Abd al-Asad, injured and crippled, 00:05:35.889 --> 00:05:40.949 while I was held captive by my clan, Banu Makhzum, 00:05:40.949 --> 00:05:42.949 who kept me confined with them. 00:05:42.949 --> 00:05:46.949 Thus, within a single hour, a rift was torn between me, my husband, and my son. 00:05:46.949 --> 00:05:53.110 From that day on, I would go out every morning to al-Abtah, 00:05:53.110 --> 00:05:56.110 sitting in the very place that had witnessed my tragedy, 00:05:56.110 --> 00:06:03.110 recalling the moments when I was torn apart from my child and my husband, 00:06:03.110 --> 00:06:07.240 and I would remain weeping until nightfall descended upon me. 00:06:07.240 --> 00:06:11.240 I continued in this state for a year, or nearly a year, 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. 00:06:17.240 --> 00:06:21.240 He said to my clansmen: 'Will you not let this poor woman go? 00:06:21.240 --> 00:06:25.240 You have separated her from her husband and from her child!' 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: 00:06:32.240 --> 00:06:35.370 'Join your husband if you wish.' 00:06:35.370 --> 00:06:39.370 But how could I join my husband in Medina 00:06:39.370 --> 00:06:44.370 while leaving my child, the piece of my heart, in Makkah with Banu Abd al-Asad? 00:06:44.370 --> 00:06:49.430 How could my burning grief subside or the tears in my eyes dry 00:06:49.430 --> 00:06:51.430 while I was in the land of emigration 00:06:51.430 --> 00:06:55.430 and my little boy remained in Makkah, knowing nothing of his fate? 00:06:55.430 --> 00:07:00.459 Then some people saw the deep sorrow and anguish I was enduring, 00:07:00.459 --> 00:07:02.459 and their hearts softened toward my plight. 00:07:02.459 --> 00:07:05.459 They spoke to Banu Abd al-Asad on my behalf 00:07:05.459 --> 00:07:09.459 and pleaded with them for my sake, so they returned my son Salamah to me. 00:07:09.459 --> 00:07:14.660 I did not want to linger in Makkah until I could find someone to travel with, 00:07:14.660 --> 00:07:18.660 for I feared that something unexpected might happen 00:07:18.660 --> 00:07:21.660 that would prevent me from reaching my husband. 00:07:21.660 --> 00:07:24.660 Therefore, I hastened, prepared my camel, 00:07:24.660 --> 00:07:26.660 placed my son in my lap, 00:07:26.660 --> 00:07:29.660 and set out heading toward Medina, 00:07:29.660 --> 00:07:31.660 seeking my husband, 00:07:31.660 --> 00:07:34.660 with not a single soul among Allah's creation accompanying me. 00:07:34.660 --> 00:07:38.660 No sooner had I reached al-Tan'im than I met Uthman ibn Talhah. 00:07:38.660 --> 00:07:42.660 He asked: 'Where are you heading, O daughter of Zad al-Rakib?' 00:07:42.660 --> 00:07:45.660 I replied: 'I want to reach my husband in Medina.' 00:07:45.660 --> 00:07:48.660 He asked: 'Is there no one with you?' 00:07:48.660 --> 00:07:51.660 I said: 'No, by Allah, 00:07:51.660 --> 00:07:54.660 none except Allah, and then this son of mine.' 00:07:54.660 --> 00:07:57.660 He said: 'By Allah, I will never leave you unattended.' 00:07:58.660 --> 00:08:01.660 Then he took hold of my camel's halter 00:08:01.660 --> 00:08:03.660 and set off swiftly leading me. 00:08:03.660 --> 00:08:06.660 By Allah, I have never accompanied any Arab man 00:08:06.660 --> 00:08:09.660 more noble or honorable than him. 00:08:09.660 --> 00:08:12.660 Whenever he reached a halting place, he would make my camel kneel, 00:08:12.660 --> 00:08:14.660 then step back away from me. 00:08:14.660 --> 00:08:16.660 Once I had dismounted from its back 00:08:16.660 --> 00:08:18.660 and settled safely upon the ground, 00:08:18.660 --> 00:08:20.660 he would approach the camel, unload its saddle, 00:08:20.660 --> 00:08:24.660 lead it to a tree, and tether it there. 00:08:24.660 --> 00:08:27.660 Then he would retreat from me toward another tree 00:08:27.660 --> 00:08:29.660 and lie down to rest in its shade. 00:08:29.660 --> 00:08:31.660 When the time to resume the journey came, 00:08:31.660 --> 00:08:33.659 he would go to my camel, 00:08:33.659 --> 00:08:35.659 saddle it, and bring it over to me. 00:08:35.659 --> 00:08:37.659 Then he would step back from me and say: 00:08:37.659 --> 00:08:39.659 'Mount.' 00:08:39.659 --> 00:08:42.659 Once I had mounted and settled firmly upon the camel, 00:08:42.659 --> 00:08:45.659 he would come forward, take its halter, and lead it. 00:08:45.659 --> 00:08:48.659 He continued to do the same every single day 00:08:48.659 --> 00:08:50.659 until we reached Medina. 00:08:50.659 --> 00:08:52.659 When he looked upon the village of Quba' 00:08:52.659 --> 00:08:54.659 belonging to Banu Amr ibn Awf, 00:08:54.659 --> 00:08:57.659 he said: 'Your husband is in this village, 00:08:57.659 --> 00:09:00.659 so enter it with the blessing of Allah.' 00:09:00.659 --> 00:09:03.750 Then he departed, heading back to Makkah. 00:09:03.750 --> 00:09:05.750 Thus the scattered family was reunited 00:09:05.750 --> 00:09:07.750 after a long separation; 00:09:07.750 --> 00:09:10.750 Umm Salamah's eyes were comforted by her husband, 00:09:10.750 --> 00:09:13.750 and Abu Salamah rejoiced in his wife and child. 00:09:13.750 --> 00:09:15.750 Thereafter, events began 00:09:15.750 --> 00:09:18.779 unfolding rapidly in the blink of an eye: 00:09:18.779 --> 00:09:20.779 there was Badr, 00:09:20.779 --> 00:09:24.779 witnessed by Abu Salamah, returning from it with the Muslims 00:09:24.779 --> 00:09:27.779 having achieved a decisive victory; 00:09:27.779 --> 00:09:29.779 and there was Uhud, 00:09:29.779 --> 00:09:31.779 plunging into its thickest fray after Badr, 00:09:31.779 --> 00:09:34.779 fighting therein with the utmost valor and nobility. 00:09:34.779 --> 00:09:37.779 Yet he emerged from it 00:09:37.779 --> 00:09:39.779 having sustained a severe wound. 00:09:39.779 --> 00:09:41.779 He continued to treat it 00:09:41.779 --> 00:09:44.779 until it appeared to him to have healed, 00:09:44.779 --> 00:09:47.779 but the wound had only closed over an underlying infection; 00:09:47.779 --> 00:09:49.779 before long, it broke open anew, 00:09:49.779 --> 00:09:52.779 confining Abu Salamah to his bed. 00:09:52.779 --> 00:09:55.779 While Abu Salamah was nursing his wound, 00:09:55.779 --> 00:09:57.779 he said to his wife: 00:09:57.779 --> 00:09:59.779 'O Umm Salamah, 00:09:59.779 --> 00:10:02.779 I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, 00:10:02.779 --> 00:10:05.779 say: "No person is afflicted with a calamity 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: 00:10:08.779 --> 00:10:11.779 'O Allah, with You I seek the reward for this calamity of mine; 00:10:11.779 --> 00:10:14.779 O Allah, compensate me with something better than it,' 00:10:14.779 --> 00:10:17.779 except that Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, grants him that."' 00:10:17.779 --> 00:10:21.850 Abu Salamah remained on his sickbed for several days. 00:10:21.850 --> 00:10:23.850 One morning, 00:10:23.850 --> 00:10:26.850 the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, came to him 00:10:26.850 --> 00:10:27.850 to visit him in his illness. 00:10:27.850 --> 00:10:30.850 Hardly had he finished his visit 00:10:30.850 --> 00:10:32.850 and stepped past the door of his house 00:10:32.850 --> 00:10:35.980 when Abu Salamah passed away. 00:10:35.980 --> 00:10:38.980 The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, closed 00:10:38.980 --> 00:10:41.980 the eyes of his companion with his two noble hands, 00:10:41.980 --> 00:10:45.039 raised his gaze to the heaven, and said: 00:10:45.039 --> 00:10:48.039 'O Allah, forgive Abu Salamah, 00:10:48.039 --> 00:10:51.039 raise his rank among those brought near, 00:10:51.039 --> 00:10:54.039 appoint a successor for those he leaves behind among the survivors, 00:10:54.039 --> 00:10:58.039 forgive us and him, O Lord of the worlds, 00:10:58.039 --> 00:11:00.039 make his grave spacious for him, 00:11:00.039 --> 00:11:02.039 and illuminate it for him.' 00:11:02.039 --> 00:11:04.230 As for Umm Salamah, 00:11:04.230 --> 00:11:07.230 she remembered what Abu Salamah had narrated to her 00:11:07.230 --> 00:11:10.230 from the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, 00:11:10.230 --> 00:11:11.230 So she said, 00:11:11.230 --> 00:11:14.230 "O Allah, with You I seek reward for this calamity of mine," 00:11:14.230 --> 00:11:17.230 but she could not bring herself to say, 00:11:17.230 --> 00:11:20.230 "O Allah, replace him for me with someone better than him." 00:11:20.230 --> 00:11:23.230 For she wondered, 00:11:23.230 --> 00:11:27.230 "Who could possibly be better than Abu Salamah?" 00:11:27.230 --> 00:11:30.230 Yet, before long, she completed the supplication. 00:11:30.230 --> 00:11:33.259 The Muslims grieved over Umm Salamah's misfortune 00:11:33.259 --> 00:11:36.259 as they had never grieved for anyone's misfortune before, 00:11:36.259 --> 00:11:39.259 and called her "the widow of the Arabs," 00:11:39.259 --> 00:11:43.259 as she had no family in Medina 00:11:43.259 --> 00:11:46.259 except for little children like fledgling sandgrouse chicks. 00:11:46.259 --> 00:11:49.259 Both the Emigrants and the Ansar felt 00:11:49.259 --> 00:11:52.259 their shared duty toward Umm Salamah. 00:11:52.259 --> 00:11:55.259 No sooner had her mourning period for Abu Salamah ended 00:11:55.259 --> 00:11:58.259 than Abu Bakr al-Siddiq approached her, 00:11:58.259 --> 00:12:01.259 proposing marriage to her for himself, 00:12:01.259 --> 00:12:04.259 but she declined his proposal. 00:12:04.259 --> 00:12:07.259 Then Umar Ibn al-Khattab approached her, 00:12:07.259 --> 00:12:10.259 and she turned him down just as she had turned down his companion. 00:12:10.259 --> 00:12:14.259 Then the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, approached her, 00:12:14.259 --> 00:12:17.259 and she said to him, 00:12:17.259 --> 00:12:20.259 "O Messenger of Allah, I have three traits: 00:12:20.259 --> 00:12:23.259 I am a fiercely jealous woman, 00:12:23.259 --> 00:12:26.259 and I fear you might see something in me that displeases you, 00:12:26.259 --> 00:12:29.259 causing Allah to punish me for it; 00:12:29.259 --> 00:12:32.259 I am an advanced woman in age; 00:12:32.259 --> 00:12:35.360 and I am a woman with dependent children." 00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:38.360 So the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, 00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:42.360 "I will pray to Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, to take jealousy away from you; 00:12:42.360 --> 00:12:45.360 as for the age you mentioned, 00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:48.360 I have been affected by the same age as you; 00:12:48.360 --> 00:12:51.360 and as for the children you mentioned, 00:12:51.360 --> 00:12:54.360 your children are my children." 00:12:54.360 --> 00:12:57.360 Then the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, married 00:12:57.360 --> 00:13:00.360 Umm Salamah, 00:13:00.360 --> 00:13:03.360 so Allah answered her supplication 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:06.360 and granted her someone far better than Abu Salamah. 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:10.360 Hind al-Makhzumiyyah was no longer just the mother of Salamah alone; 00:13:10.360 --> 00:13:13.360 rather, she became the Mother of all the Believers. 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:16.360 May Allah brighten the face of Umm Salamah in Paradise, 00:13:16.360 --> 00:13:19.360 and may He be pleased with her and make her pleased— 00:13:19.360 --> 00:13:22.740 Umm Salamah, 00:13:22.740 --> 00:13:26.159 may Allah be pleased with her.