Marriage to Ummi Salamah (ra) – Shawwal 4 A.H. — Seal of the Prophets Vol. 2
Introduction
In this discourse from The Life & Character of the Seal of the Prophets (Volume 2), Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad (ra) details the historical events and scholarly insights surrounding Marriage to Ummi Salamah (ra) – Shawwal 4 A.H..
Book Series: The Life & Character of the Seal of the Prophets (Volume 2)
Author: Hazrat Mirza Bashir Ahmad (ra)
Section: IX – Repeated Treachery of the Jews, Compilation and Sequence of the Holy Qur’an, Marriage of Hadrat Zainab (ra), the Great Calumny and Mischief of the Hypocrites
Pages: Book pp. 388–390 (PDF pp. 412–414)
Navigation: Book Table of Contents | « Previous: [Ghazwah of Badrul-Mau‘id – Dhu Qa‘dah] | Next: [Personal Scribe of the Holy Prophet (sa) and Learning Hebrew] »
Historical Account
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grown old and am no longer able to bear children.”1 However, since the purpose of the Holy Prophetsa was different, she ultimately accepted. Her son acted as the guardian of his mother and married her to the Holy Prophetsa. As it has already been mentioned, Ummi Salamahra was a lady of distinct stature and in addition to being extremely intelligent and sharp, she possessed a lofty rank in sincerity and faith. She was among those people who had migrated to Abyssinia on the instruction of the Holy Prophetsa in the early days. Even in migrating to Madīnah, she was the very first among the ladies.2 Ḥaḍrat Ummi Salamahra knew how to read as well,3 and played a significant role in educating and training the Muslim women. Many narrations and Aḥādīth are related by her in the books of Ḥadīth, and in this respect she stands second among the wives of the Holy Prophetsa, and twelfth among all the Companions in total (including both men and women). Ḥaḍrat Ummi Salamahra was blessed with a very long life and passed away in the era of Yazīd bin Mu‘āwiyyah at the age of eighty-four.4 She was the last among the Ummahātul-Mu’minīn5 to pass away.6 At the time of her marriage since Ḥaḍrat Ummi Salamahra was eldest among the wives of the Holy Prophetsa, to the extent that she could not even bear children, when performing his daily round after ‘Asr to inquire of the well-being of his
1 * Al-Iṣābah Fī Tamīziṣ-Ṣaḥābah, By Aḥmad bin ‘Alī bin Ḥajar Al-‘Asqalānī, Volume 8, p. 405, Ummu Salamata bintu Abī Umayyah, Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon (2005)
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Sharḥul-‘Allāmatiz-Zarqānī ‘Alal-Mawāhibil-Ladunniyyah, By Allāmah Shihābuddīn Al-Qusṭalānī, Volume 4, p. 399, Ummu Salamata Ummul-Mu’minīn, Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (1996)
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Aṭ-Ṭabaqātul-Kubrā, By Muḥammad bin Sa‘d, Volume 8, p. 290, Dhikru Azwāji Rasūlillāhsa / Ummu Salamata bintu Abī Umayyah, Dāru Iḥyā’it-Turāthil-‘Arabī, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (1996) 2
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Sharḥul-‘Allāmatiz-Zarqānī ‘Alal-Mawāhibil-Ladunniyyah, By Allāmah Shihābuddīn Al-Qusṭalānī, Volume 4, pp. 396-397/400, Ummu Salamata Ummul-Mu’minīn, Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (1996)
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Al-Iṣābah Fī Tamīziṣ-Ṣaḥābah, By Aḥmad bin ‘Alī bin Ḥajar Al-‘Asqalānī, Volume 8, p. 404, Ummu Salamata bintu Abī Umayyah, Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon (2005) 3 Kitābu Futūḥil-Buldān, By Aḥmad bin Yaḥyā bin Jābir Al-Baghdādī As-Shahīru Bil-Balādhurī, p. 280, Amrul-Khaṭṭi, Al-Mausū‘ātu Bi-Shāri‘i Bābil-Khalq, Egypt, First Edition (1901) 4
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Aṭ-Ṭabaqātul-Kubrā, By Muḥammad bin Sa‘d, Volume 8, p. 292, Dhikru Azwāji Rasūlillāhsa / Ummu Salamata bintu Abī Umayyah, Dāru Iḥyā’it-Turāthil-‘Arabī, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (1996)
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Tahzībut-Tahzīb, By Al-Imām Shihābuddīn Abul-Faḍl Aḥmad bin Ḥajar Al-‘Asqalānī, Volume 6, p. 618, Ḥarful-Hā’i / Min Ismihā Hind Wa Hunaidah….., Dāru Iḥyā’it-Turāthil-‘Arabī, Beirut, Lebanon, Second Edition (1993) 5 Mother of the Believers [Publishers] 6
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Sharḥul-‘Allāmatiz-Zarqānī ‘Alal-Mawāhibil-Ladunniyyah, By Allāmah Shihābuddīn Al-Qusṭalānī, Volume 4, p. 402, Ummu Salamah Ummul-Mu’minīn, Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (1996)
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Al-Iṣābah Fī Tamīziṣ-Ṣaḥābah, By Aḥmad bin ‘Alī bin Ḥajar Al-‘Asqalānī, Volume 8, p. 407, Ummu Salamata bintu Abī Umayyah, Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon (2005)
wives, the Holy Prophetsa would visit Ḥaḍrat Ummi Salamahra first; and Ḥaḍrat ‘Ā’ishahra last, who was the youngest of all. Then, he would proceed to the home of the wife whose turn it would be for that respective day.
[Sharḥul-‘Allāmatiz-Zarqānī ‘Alal-Mawāhibil-Ladunniyyah, By Allāmah Shihābuddīn Al-Qusṭalānī, Volume 4, p. 402, Ummu Salamah Ummul-Mu’minīn, Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (1996)]
Personal Scribe of the Holy Prophetsa and Learning Hebrew
The scope of the correspondence of the Holy Prophetsa was now expanding and it was felt that a faithful Companion of the Holy Prophetsa should gain knowledge of Hebrew as well. In this manner, correspondence and the drafting of treaties, etc., with the Jews could be facilitated and the risk of deceit could also be removed. For this purpose, the Holy Prophetsa instructed a young Companion by the name of Zaid bin Thābit Anṣārīra, who had learned to read and write Arabic from the captives of the battle of Badr, and who was the personal scribe or private secretary of the Holy Prophetsa, to learn how to read and write Hebrew as well. Hence, Zaidra, who was remarkably intelligent, managed to learn Hebrew in an effort of merely fifteen days. It is also worthy to note that this is the very same Zaid bin Thābitra, who collected and copied the Holy Qur’ān in the form of a manuscript or book, in the era of Ḥaḍrat Abū Bakrra, upon his instruction.
[Al-Iṣābah Fī Tamīziṣ-Ṣaḥābah, By Aḥmad bin ‘Alī bin Ḥajar Al-‘Asqalānī, Volume 2, p. 491, Zaid bin Thābit, Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon (2005) * Tārīkhul-Khamīs Fī Aḥwāli Anfasi Nafīs, By Ḥusain bin Muḥammad bin Ḥasan, Volume 1, p. 465, Ta‘allumu Zaidibni Thābit Kitābal-Yahūd, Mu’assasatu Sha‘bān, Beirut]
[Ṣaḥīḥul-Bukhārī, Kitābu Faḍā’ilil-Qur’ān, Bābu Jam‘il-Qur’ān, Ḥadīth No. 4986]
Compilation of the Qur’ān
We have already written above that Zaid bin Thābit Anṣārīra collected and copied the Holy Qur’ān in the Khilāfat of Ḥaḍrat Abū Bakrra in the form of a manuscript. This does not mean that prior to this the Holy Qur’ān had not already been collected. Rather, the truth is that as the Holy Qur’ān was gradually revealed to the Holy Prophetsa, he would not only arrange it under
Book Series: The Life & Character of the Seal of the Prophets (Volume 2)
Section: IX – Repeated Treachery of the Jews, Compilation and Sequence of the Holy Qur’an, Marriage of Hadrat Zainab (ra), the Great Calumny and Mischief of the Hypocrites | Navigation: « Previous: [Ghazwah of Badrul-Mau‘id – Dhu Qa‘dah] | Next: [Personal Scribe of the Holy Prophet (sa) and Learning Hebrew] »