ZS13:AK9 Ummu Habibah rha


The tombs of Ummu Habibah rha and Ummu Salamah rha were together in one well maintained area within the cemetery of the Bab Al Saghir. Equipped with good facilities, etc. the place was one of the most memorable experience for all of us. Ummu Habibah rha, daughter of Abu Sufyan and her first husband, Ubaydullah ibn Jahsh, the brother of Zaynab bint Jahsh, were among the first people to embrace Islam in Makkah. They were among those early Muslims who emigrated to Abyssinia in order to be safe. Once in Abyssinia, however, Ubaydullah abandoned Islam and converted to Christian. He tried to convert her, but she stood fast. This put Umm Habibah in a difficult position, since a Muslim woman can only be married to be a Muslim man. She could no longer live with her husband, and once they had been divorced, she could not return to her father, who was still busy fighting the Muslims. So she remained with her daughter in Abyssinia, living a very simple life in isolation, waiting to see what Allah would decree for her.One day, as Umm Habibah rha sat in her solitary room, a stranger in a strange land far from her home, a maidservant knocked on her door and said that she had been sent by the Negus who had a message for her. The message was that the Prophet Muhammad saw (peace be upon him) had asked for her hand in marriage, and that if she accepted this proposal that she was to name one of the accepted this proposal then she was to name one of the Muslims in Abyssinia as her wakil – representative, so that the marriage ceremony could take place in Abyssinia even though she was not in the same place as the Prophet saw (peace be upon him).
She married Prophet Muhammad saw (peace be upon him) in 1 AH, although she did not actually live with him in Medinah until 7 AH, when the Prophet was sixty years old and she was thirty-five. Ummu Habibah rha spent four years of her life with Prophet Muhammad saw (peace be upon him) and lived for another thirty-three years after he had died, dying at the age of seventy-two in 44 AH, may Allah be pleased with her.

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