Part of Glimpses from the Lives of the Female Companions (Sahabiyyat) (series completed)
· Lesson 8 of 8
Pictures from the lives of female companions - Episode (8) - Umm Salamah, may God be pleased with her
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Transcript
Machine translation — may contain errors
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In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
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The Mawaddah Association is pleased
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to present to you
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"Portraits from the Lives of the Female Companions"
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by Dr. Abd al-Rahman Ra'fat al-Basha,
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may Allah have mercy on him.
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Umm Salamah,
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may Allah be pleased with her.
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Umm Salamah—
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and what can make you know who Umm Salamah was!
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As for her father, he was one of the prominent chieftains of Makhzum,
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and one of the most famously generous men among the Arabs,
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so much so that he was called
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"Zad al-Rakib" (The Provisioner of the Traveler),
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because no travelers needed to carry provisions
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whenever they headed for his dwellings
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or traveled in his company.
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As for her husband, he was Abdullah ibn Abd al-Asad,
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one of the first ten foremost pioneers in embracing Islam,
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for no one accepted Islam before him except Abu Bakr al-Siddiq
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and a small group numbering fewer than the fingers on two hands.
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Her name was Hind,
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but she was known by the agnomen (kunya) of Umm Salamah,
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and that kunya eventually prevailed as her name.
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Umm Salamah accepted Islam alongside her husband,
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thus becoming among the foremost pioneering women in Islam as well.
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No sooner had the news of the conversion of Umm Salamah and her husband spread
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than Quraysh erupted in violent fury,
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pouring down upon them such torment and persecution
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as would shake solid rocks.
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Yet the couple did not weaken, nor waver, nor hesitate.
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When the persecution grew intensely severe against them,
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and the Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, granted permission
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to his Companions to emigrate to Abyssinia,
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they were at the forefront of the emigrants.
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Umm Salamah and her husband departed to the land of exile,
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leaving behind in Makkah her palatial home,
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her towering honor, and her noble lineage,
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seeking the reward for all of that with Allah alone,
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deeming it insignificant for the sake of His pleasure.
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Despite the protection Umm Salamah and her companions received from the Negus—
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may Allah brighten his face in Paradise—
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the yearning for Makkah, the site of revelation,
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and the longing for the Messenger of Allah, the source of guidance,
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tore deeply at her heart and the heart of her husband.
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Then successive reports reached the emigrants in the land of Abyssinia
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that the Muslims in Makkah had grown in number,
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and that the conversions of Hamzah ibn Abd al-Muttalib
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and Umar ibn al-Khattab had strengthened their ranks
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and curbed some of Quraysh's harm against them.
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Thereupon, a group among them resolved to return to Makkah,
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driven by yearning and summoned by nostalgia,
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and Umm Salamah and her husband were among the foremost returnees.
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But the returnees soon discovered
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that the reports conveyed to them had been exaggerated,
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and that the surge the Muslims experienced after the conversions of Hamzah and Umar
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had been met by Quraysh with an even fiercer assault.
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The polytheists devised new ways to torture and terrorize the Muslims,
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inflicting upon them a ferocity they had never experienced before.
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At that point, the Messenger, peace be upon him, granted permission
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to his Companions to emigrate to Medina.
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Umm Salamah and her husband resolved to be among the first to emigrate,
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fleeing to safeguard their faith and escaping the persecution of Quraysh.
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But the emigration of Umm Salamah and her husband was not as easy and smooth as they had imagined;
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rather, it was arduous and bitter,
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leaving in its wake a tragedy beside which every other tragedy pales.
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Let us leave the floor to Umm Salamah to recount for us the story of her tragedy,
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for her experience of it was more intense and profound,
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and her depiction of it is more precise and eloquent.
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Umm Salamah said: "When Abu Salamah resolved to set out for Medina,
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he prepared a camel for me and helped me mount it,
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placed our young son, Salamah, in my lap,
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and set off leading the camel, turning his back on everything else.
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Before we could depart from Makkah, men from my clan, Banu Makhzum, spotted us.
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They confronted us and said to Abu Salamah:
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'If you have overpowered us concerning yourself, what about this woman of yours?
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She is our daughter; why should we allow you to take her from us and journey with her through the land?'
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Then they pounced on him and tore me away from his grasp.
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When the clan of my husband, Banu Abd al-Asad, saw them
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seizing me and my child, they became exceedingly enraged,
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and said: 'No, by Allah! We will not leave the child with your woman,
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after you have violently torn her away from our kinsman!
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He is our son, and we have a greater right to him.'
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They then began pulling and tugging at my child Salamah between them before my very eyes,
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until they dislocated his arm and took him away.
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In mere moments, I found myself shattered, all alone and abandoned:
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my husband had headed toward Medina, fleeing to preserve his faith and life,
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my child was snatched from my arms by Banu Abd al-Asad, injured and crippled,
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while I was held captive by my clan, Banu Makhzum,
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who kept me confined with them.
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Thus, within a single hour, a rift was torn between me, my husband, and my son.
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From that day on, I would go out every morning to al-Abtah,
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sitting in the very place that had witnessed my tragedy,
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recalling the moments when I was torn apart from my child and my husband,
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and I would remain weeping until nightfall descended upon me.
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I continued in this state for a year, or nearly a year,
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until a man from among my cousins passed by me, took pity on my condition, and felt compassion for me.
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He said to my clansmen: 'Will you not let this poor woman go?
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You have separated her from her husband and from her child!'
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He kept appealing to them, softening their hearts and eliciting their sympathy, until they said to me:
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'Join your husband if you wish.'
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But how could I join my husband in Medina
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while leaving my child, the piece of my heart, in Makkah with Banu Abd al-Asad?
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How could my burning grief subside or the tears in my eyes dry
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while I was in the land of emigration
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and my little boy remained in Makkah, knowing nothing of his fate?
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Then some people saw the deep sorrow and anguish I was enduring,
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and their hearts softened toward my plight.
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They spoke to Banu Abd al-Asad on my behalf
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and pleaded with them for my sake, so they returned my son Salamah to me.
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I did not want to linger in Makkah until I could find someone to travel with,
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for I feared that something unexpected might happen
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that would prevent me from reaching my husband.
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Therefore, I hastened, prepared my camel,
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placed my son in my lap,
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and set out heading toward Medina,
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seeking my husband,
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with not a single soul among Allah's creation accompanying me.
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No sooner had I reached al-Tan'im than I met Uthman ibn Talhah.
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He asked: 'Where are you heading, O daughter of Zad al-Rakib?'
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I replied: 'I want to reach my husband in Medina.'
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He asked: 'Is there no one with you?'
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I said: 'No, by Allah,
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none except Allah, and then this son of mine.'
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He said: 'By Allah, I will never leave you unattended.'
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Then he took hold of my camel's halter
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and set off swiftly leading me.
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By Allah, I have never accompanied any Arab man
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more noble or honorable than him.
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Whenever he reached a halting place, he would make my camel kneel,
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then step back away from me.
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Once I had dismounted from its back
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and settled safely upon the ground,
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he would approach the camel, unload its saddle,
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lead it to a tree, and tether it there.
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Then he would retreat from me toward another tree
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and lie down to rest in its shade.
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When the time to resume the journey came,
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he would go to my camel,
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saddle it, and bring it over to me.
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Then he would step back from me and say:
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'Mount.'
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Once I had mounted and settled firmly upon the camel,
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he would come forward, take its halter, and lead it.
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He continued to do the same every single day
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until we reached Medina.
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When he looked upon the village of Quba'
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belonging to Banu Amr ibn Awf,
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he said: 'Your husband is in this village,
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so enter it with the blessing of Allah.'
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Then he departed, heading back to Makkah.
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Thus the scattered family was reunited
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after a long separation;
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Umm Salamah's eyes were comforted by her husband,
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and Abu Salamah rejoiced in his wife and child.
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Thereafter, events began
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unfolding rapidly in the blink of an eye:
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there was Badr,
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witnessed by Abu Salamah, returning from it with the Muslims
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having achieved a decisive victory;
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and there was Uhud,
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plunging into its thickest fray after Badr,
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fighting therein with the utmost valor and nobility.
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Yet he emerged from it
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having sustained a severe wound.
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He continued to treat it
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until it appeared to him to have healed,
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but the wound had only closed over an underlying infection;
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before long, it broke open anew,
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confining Abu Salamah to his bed.
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While Abu Salamah was nursing his wound,
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he said to his wife:
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'O Umm Salamah,
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I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
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say: "No person is afflicted with a calamity
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and then utters the Istirja' (declaring that to Allah we belong and to Him we return) and says:
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'O Allah, with You I seek the reward for this calamity of mine;
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O Allah, compensate me with something better than it,'
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except that Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, grants him that."'
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Abu Salamah remained on his sickbed for several days.
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One morning,
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the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, came to him
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to visit him in his illness.
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Hardly had he finished his visit
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and stepped past the door of his house
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when Abu Salamah passed away.
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The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, closed
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the eyes of his companion with his two noble hands,
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raised his gaze to the heaven, and said:
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'O Allah, forgive Abu Salamah,
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raise his rank among those brought near,
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appoint a successor for those he leaves behind among the survivors,
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forgive us and him, O Lord of the worlds,
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make his grave spacious for him,
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and illuminate it for him.'
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As for Umm Salamah,
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she remembered what Abu Salamah had narrated to her
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from the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,
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So she said,
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"O Allah, with You I seek reward for this calamity of mine,"
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but she could not bring herself to say,
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"O Allah, replace him for me with someone better than him."
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For she wondered,
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"Who could possibly be better than Abu Salamah?"
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Yet, before long, she completed the supplication.
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The Muslims grieved over Umm Salamah's misfortune
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as they had never grieved for anyone's misfortune before,
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and called her "the widow of the Arabs,"
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as she had no family in Medina
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except for little children like fledgling sandgrouse chicks.
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Both the Emigrants and the Ansar felt
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their shared duty toward Umm Salamah.
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No sooner had her mourning period for Abu Salamah ended
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than Abu Bakr al-Siddiq approached her,
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proposing marriage to her for himself,
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but she declined his proposal.
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Then Umar Ibn al-Khattab approached her,
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and she turned him down just as she had turned down his companion.
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Then the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, approached her,
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and she said to him,
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"O Messenger of Allah, I have three traits:
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I am a fiercely jealous woman,
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and I fear you might see something in me that displeases you,
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causing Allah to punish me for it;
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I am an advanced woman in age;
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and I am a woman with dependent children."
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So the Prophet, peace be upon him, said,
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"I will pray to Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, to take jealousy away from you;
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as for the age you mentioned,
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I have been affected by the same age as you;
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and as for the children you mentioned,
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your children are my children."
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Then the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, married
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Umm Salamah,
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so Allah answered her supplication
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and granted her someone far better than Abu Salamah.
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Hind al-Makhzumiyyah was no longer just the mother of Salamah alone;
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rather, she became the Mother of all the Believers.
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May Allah brighten the face of Umm Salamah in Paradise,
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and may He be pleased with her and make her pleased—
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Umm Salamah,
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may Allah be pleased with her.