The Firsts (Sahaba Stories) | The Forerunners of Islam
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44
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Khawla Bint Hakim & Uthman Ibn Madhun: The Righteous Couple | The Firsts
52
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Al-Shifa bint Abdullah (ra): The Healer and Scholar | The Firsts Shorts
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Shurahbil Ibn Hasana (ra): The Scribe and Commander | The Firsts Shorts
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Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Khalid ibn al-Walid (ra): The Legendary Military General | The Firsts
126
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Amr ibn al-As (ra): His Wicked Father and “Better” Brother | The Firsts
146
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid (ra): From False Prophet to Shaheed | The Firsts
147
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Zayd ibn al-Khattab (ra): The Quiet Brother of Omar (ra) | The Firsts
Sawda Bint Zama’a (ra): The Prophet’s Joy
After the grief of losing Khadijah (ra), Sawada Bint Zama'a (ra) brought joy and comfort to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ with her unique spirit of generosity and selflessness.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Bismillah walhamdulillah wa salatu wassalamu ala rasulullah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala. Welcome back everyone to the first and inshaAllah ta'ala we are getting closer and closer to Ramadan and bi-idhnillah I know that many of you have been asking about the Ramadan series. It's coming soon inshaAllah ta'ala. We should be announcing it sometime next week bi-idhnillah and of course until then inshaAllah we're going to have plenty of Ramadan prep material that's going to be coming out in the next few weeks. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to allow us to live to see Ramadan, to forgive us for our shortcomings, to accept our Ramadan, our deeds in it and beyond. Allahumma ameen. And tonight bi-idhnillah ta'ala we get to spend a night discussing one of our mothers and one of the most overlooked mothers of the believers even though subhanAllah she has such a place with the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam and therefore should have such a place in our hearts. And her name is Saudah bint Zam'a radiAllahu ta'ala anha. And I'll actually share a personal story before I even start talking about her. You know when I used to teach Sunday school and we would cover the mothers of the believers Saudah bint Zam'a would be someone that would not only be forgotten quickly by students but people would say her name wrong. So I remember hearing all types of names from students about Saudah radiAllahu ta'ala anha. But she is literally the second wife of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam. The first woman to marry the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam after Khadijah radiAllahu ta'ala anha. And someone that just has such an incredible story and it is as if when you read her story that her being overlooked was intentional by her. That she preferred a life of obscurity even in her times radiAllahu ta'ala anha to a point that she withdrew from public life
radiAllahu ta'ala anha throughout her entire life to where even her death as we'll see is not even known in terms of the exact date though she is one of the mothers of the believers the wife of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam. Now within the story of Saudah radiAllahu ta'ala anha we see that there were all types of people around her that would count from as-sabiqun al-awwalun, count from the first. And I pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to do justice to them in this small lecture that we will have tonight bid'na nahi ta'ala. So first let's start with her parents. Her father was Zam'a ibn Qais ibn Abd al-shams. He is from the clan of Amr ibn al-Luhay, the man who first brought idols to Mecca. So it's a powerful clan and this is the same clan as the mother of Khadija radiAllahu ta'ala anha. So she is related to Khadija radiAllahu ta'ala anha and her mother was Ashams ibn Qais ibn Zayd ibn Amr from the Najjar clan in Medina from the tribe of Khazraj. So Najjar was a sub-tribe of Khazraj in Medina. And that also makes her related to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam in a way because Abdul Muttalib's mother was from them. And so her parents, her mother in particular was a cousin of Abdul Muttalib. So there is a relationship to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam from her mother's side, a relationship to Khadija radiAllahu ta'ala anha from her father's side. And what's important as we're setting the grounds for her hijrah and the way that she will endure persecution or lack of persecution is that she was blessed with having powerful family in both Mecca and Medina and that would be a protection for her from any physical harm upon her embracing of Islam. Her physical description which is important in that sense is that she's described as
taweela, thaqeela, jaseeman, she was very tall, very heavy set, just had a very big physical presence radiAllahu ta'ala anha. And when we look at her age compared to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, it seems that she was about five years older than the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam which would mean that the first two women that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam married were both older than him alayhi salatu wasalam. As we know Khadijah radiAllahu ta'ala anha was older than him as well alayhi salatu wasalam. Now before she marries the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, like all of the wives of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam with the exception of Aisha radiAllahu anha, she was married to someone else and her husband was a man by the name of Sakran ibn Amr. And Sakran ibn Amr was the brother of Suhail ibn Amr. Now we talked a little bit about Suhail ibn Amr in the story of Abu Hudhaifa and Suhail ibn Amr of course is the man who was the chief negotiator of Quraysh with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam against the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam if you will in the treaty of Hudhaibiyah but who would of course one day become a Muslim and become a companion of the Messenger salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. But Suhail ibn Amr is a powerful man. So Suhail is her brother-in-law. So let's talk about the family dynamics a bit. Let's start with her. Saudah radiAllahu anha, it's said that she had about five children before embracing Islam. And that would have been from either a previous marriage or through her marriage with Sakran ibn Amr. And she has also two brothers who she called to Islam as well. One of them is named Malik ibn Zam'a and Malik ibn Zam'a is also, though there is no biographical detail about him, one of the first Muslims through Saudah radiAllahu anha and he and his wife, Malik ibn Zam'a and his wife whose
name was Umayrah, made hijrah to Habesha and Medina. So they're from those that made the two migrations to Abyssinia and Medina and they died without any children. So this is her brother Malik ibn Zam'a and his wife Umayrah who were from the first Muslims as well. We have no biographical details about but subhanAllah what an honorable position that they were amongst those who were from Ashab al-Hijratain, those that made the two migrations for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. She also has another brother who has a funny story that we'll cover later on whose name is Abd ibn Zam'a. And Abd ibn Zam'a unlike Malik, Malik strongly opposed Islam in the very beginning and was in strong opposition to the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam and in strong opposition to his brother Malik and in strong opposition to his sister Saudah. And he would become Muslim much later on. So her two brothers, Malik became Muslim radiAllahu ta'ala anhu immediately and her other brother Abd became Muslim much later on but also died as a Muslim radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Now when it comes to her husband Sakran ibn Amr, Sakran ibn Amr as we said is the brother of Suhail ibn Amr. And this is where again you start to uncover the family dynamics. Suhail ibn Amr and his brother Sahl ibn Amr were amongst those that opposed Islam very strongly. There are another two brothers that became Muslim so early on along with Sakran ibn Amr. So they're five brothers in total. So three of them became Muslim before Umar ibn al-Khattab radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So we're talking about some of the first Muslims and they all made the hijrah to Abyssinia. They all migrated to Abyssinia to escape persecution. So you have Sakran ibn Amr, you have Hatib ibn Amr and you have a man by the name of Salit ibn
Amr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So three of them became Muslim early on and made the hijrah to Abyssinia. As for Suhail and Sahl, they also would become Muslim but of course much later on after living in opposition to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasalam. So it's an interesting dynamic that all five of them became Muslim. Three of them became Muslim early, two of them became Muslim later. And in the case of Saudah and her two brothers, two of them became Muslim early and one of them held out but he also became Muslim later on and they all died upon Islam radiAllahu ta'ala anhum ajma'een. So let's get back to Saudah. Saudah and Sakran ibn Amr are considered from the first batch of Muslims. They embraced Islam at Dar al-Arqam with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasalam and they were immediately disowned. We don't have much about their initial embrace of Islam except that we know that they're from the earliest batch and subhanAllah you think about those names that I just mentioned, very few Muslims know them, right? Unless you're deeply looking into the books but imagine their station with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, what they endured and having the distinction of making the hijrah twice for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So now let's talk about Saudah. Saudah and Sakran made hijrah to Abyssinia and in Abyssinia they had one son by the name of Abdur-Rahman. So there was only one child that Saudah would have in Islam and that was with her husband Sakran ibn Amr and her son Abdur-Rahman radiAllahu ta'ala anhum would actually go on to be a great companion, a great warrior and he would be killed in the time of Umar ibn al-Khattab radiAllahu ta'ala anhum as a shaheed in the famous battle of Jalula which was a battle with the Persians. So her one son in Islam with Sakran ibn Amr Abdur-Rahman becomes a great sahabi, a great warrior and he dies
in the path of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So what happens here? This story of women that migrated with their husbands to Abyssinia and their husbands die is a recurring theme that we see with some of the companions of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. You have Saudah and Sakran and Saudah sees this dream and if you remember with Um Salama she saw a dream, Um Habiba saw a dream, Saudah also sees a dream. And she actually has two dreams. The first dream she sees the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam come to her in her dream and she is laying down and the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam kneels next to her neck. So she wakes up and she thinks this is a really interesting dream and her husband is still alive and they are in Abyssinia and she goes to Sakran, her husband, and she says to Sakran radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, she says look I saw this dream of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam coming and kneeling next to me. Listen to the response of her husband. Sakran radiAllahu ta'ala anhu says if your dream is true then I am going to die soon and the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam is going to marry you. And Saudah reacts with just complete shock like wait no way. She says hijran wasitran, yani tanfee annafsi hadak. How could that be? She denied it. There is no way that that would happen. First of all of course saying that to your husband, your husband responding that I am going to die and the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam is going to marry you and nothing was wrong with him and they are both companions was strange. So she said of course not. What kind of interpretation is that? Then the next night she sees a dream where the moon comes into her home and lands right next to her which is also a familiar theme with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. The moon descending in your home. So she wakes up the next day and she tells her husband Sakran radiAllahu ta'ala anhu she says to him I had this dream
that the moon was coming into my home and it came next to me. Sakran radiAllahu ta'ala anhu says basically I probably don't have long before I die and the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam is going to marry you. SubhanAllah I mean they are in Abyssinia far away. Nothing is wrong with them. They have a child together born in Abyssinia and Saudah is you know there is no indication of any type of marriage with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam in the present or the future. Her husband is healthy. They migrated together to Abyssinia and her husband is the one interpreting her dream for her. Two dreams that I am going to die and the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam is going to marry you. And subhanAllah ends up happening. Sakran radiAllahu ta'ala anhu dies in Abyssinia. And you will find some of the books will say that he became Christian and that of course is actually a mix up with the story of Umm Habibah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and there is nothing to establish that. So Sakran ibn Amr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu dies as one of the earliest companions of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. A man who we have very little of but he is the husband of a woman that would go on to marry the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and the father of a great martyr in Abdur Rahman ibn Sakran radiAllahu ta'ala anhu ajma'in. So he dies in Habasha and she is left in limbo. Saudah radiAllahu ta'ala anhu has an old father who is blind and she has her son who was still very young at the time and she has no one to help her. And as we said at this point now she is in her 50s. She has up to 5 other children that we have no information on and she is in this difficult situation. Her family has already disowned her. So she is a widow and she is a convert in a strange land and she basically waited in Abyssinia to be able to travel back to Mecca with some of the members of her husband's tribe. So she comes back to Mecca. She settles
in Mecca sort of as an outcast from her family but again she is not being persecuted or punished the way that others are due to her tribal connections. And she is basically just waiting in this situation of limbo without any end in sight and she is not considered marriageable for most of that time. She is kind of at this point planning out the rest of her life to be an older widow with her children that will pass away and is just seeking that reward from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So what happens with the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam? The Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam of course has just lost the love of his life Khadija radiAllahu ta'ala anha. And he has two daughters in the house with him sallAllahu alayhi wasallam. One of them extremely young and that was Fatima radiAllahu ta'ala anha and Fatima's older sister Um Kulthum radiAllahu ta'ala anha. How is that the case? Remember that Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu married two daughters of the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam. So Zainab radiAllahu anha was already married and she was older and we talked about Zainab radiAllahu ta'ala anha and her husband. So then you have Ruqayya, Um Kulthum and Fatima. Ruqayya at that time radiAllahu ta'ala anha was married to Uthman radiAllahu anhu. And so Um Kulthum and Fatima are left in the house of the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam. May Allah be pleased with them. And when Ruqayya would die on the day of the battle of Badr then Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu after that would of course marry Um Kulthum radiAllahu ta'ala anha and Fatima radiAllahu anha would marry Ali radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So at this point now though we're looking at ten years after the revelation. We're looking at Aam al-Huzn, the year of sadness where the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam has lost Khadija radiAllahu ta'ala anha and he has lost his uncle Abu Talib within days and he has faced the worst rejection of his life from Ta'if. So he's coming back from Ta'if which is
miles out facing the most difficult time of his life. He has no one to come home to at this point and the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam was in grief for months. And it's really important to mention here not to go back to Khadija radiAllahu ta'ala anha but when people say why didn't the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam marry another woman while being married to Khadija. Do you really think after knowing the biography of Khadija radiAllahu anha that she would have objected knowing her selflessness and her personality at the time and you know of course this was the norm. But the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam had such a place for Khadija radiAllahu anha that even after she died the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam did not immediately get remarried and he was alayhi salatu wasalam now himself fifty years old having only been married to Khadija radiAllahu ta'ala anha. So the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam is in a state of intense sadness. He has his two young girls at home and clearly the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam is not the same in terms of his grief and that's why it's called the year of grief. So then you have the matchmaker. Her name was Khawla bint Hakim. Khawla bint Hakim radiAllahu ta'ala anha was considered the matchmaker in the community of the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam. She happened to be the daughter of Umayyah ibn Harith who was also a chief from Banu Asad. So she's a relative of Khadija radiAllahu anha and she was married to a great companion by the name of Uthman ibn Mad'un radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So Khawla radiAllahu anha wanted to get the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam married and the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam had spent some time now after the death of Khadija radiAllahu anha mourning her and there are difficult moments ahead and the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam cannot take care of his two young girls by himself. There has to be someone to assist him in that. So Khawla comes to the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam and listen to what
she says to him. She said Ya Rasulullah ka'anni araka qad dakhalatka khalatun li faqdi khadija. She said to the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam Ya Rasulullah what is this sadness, this grief that I have seen come to you out of the death of Khadija radiAllahu anha. You are missing her so much that you are different. And the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam responded and he said Umm al-Iyal wa rabbat al-bayt. She is my beloved wife. She was also the mother of my children. Who is there after Khadija radiAllahu anha? Who is there after Khadija that could fill her place radiAllahu ta'ala anha? And the answer of course was that no one would ever take the place of Khadija radiAllahu anha. But the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam was also going to get remarried. And so Khawla says to the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam look it is time for you to consider getting remarried and I have two people in mind for you Ya Rasulullah. She said to the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam that one of them is a widow and she is older and one of them is a young girl. She is young enough and both of them are going to be good choices for you. So the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam said who are they? So the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam said as for the young lady she is the daughter of the most beloved of people to you. Who was that? Aisha the daughter of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq may Allah be pleased with Aisha and Abu Bakr Allahuma ameen. And of course Aisha radiAllahu anha was still too young to actually have the marriage consummated to move in with the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam. So Aisha radiAllahu anha is someone that you should consider and the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam said who is the other one? She said Saudah bint Zam'a. And why did she suggest Saudah radiAllahu ta'ala anha? Because Saudah of course was one of the first people to embrace Islam and Saudah radiAllahu ta'ala anha had a very loving and humorous personality and
she was one of the first people to believe in the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam. She suffered greatly for it and she still was just a person that brought so much joy wherever she went. And that is going to be the quality that sticks with Saudah radiAllahu ta'ala anha is joy. And because it's Aam al-Huzn it is the year of grief. The Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam needs joy in his life. He needs laughter and happiness in his house as a result of this. This is a person that should be brought to his life and Khawla radiAllahu anha says and she is someone that never argues with anyone. She never has any problem getting along with other people. So she's not combative. She's not confrontational. She's easygoing and she is loving and she is full of humor radiAllahu ta'ala anha. So Saudah radiAllahu anha at her age and you know in a situation where she was not someone who was looked at for marriage at that point in her life radiAllahu ta'ala anha. You know, this is going to be despite the dreams that she had quite the proposal to her, right? But the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam gives Khawla bint Hakim radiAllahu anha the permission to speak to both Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and to the family of Saudah radiAllahu ta'ala anha. So Khawla goes straight to Saudah and she says to Saudah radiAllahu anha, would you like that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bestow a mighty blessing upon you? So Saudah says, what is that ya Khawla? She says that Rasulullah sallAllahu alayhi wasallam has sent me to you with a proposal of marriage and Saudah radiAllahu ta'ala anha was completely astonished, taken aback by the proposal from the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam and she replies in the affirmative that of course she would love to be married to the Messenger sallAllahu alayhi wasallam. So Khawla goes to Zam'a and Zam'a was an elderly man and he was blind and she says to him that Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Abdul Muttalib has sent me to ask on his behalf for the hand of Saudah radiAllahu ta'ala anha in marriage.
So he was happy because he said what a noble match, right? He's thinking about it from a lineage perspective. So what a noble match this would be, what a perfect match that this would be for her. And so he calls for Saudah, he says to Saudah that this woman has come proposing on behalf of Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Abdul Muttalib sallAllahu alayhi wasallam and is asking for your hand in marriage. Do you want me to marry him to you? And Saudah radiAllahu ta'ala anha accepts. So at that point Saudah radiAllahu ta'ala anha goes to the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam and she says to the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam Fakhatabaha faqalat amri ilayka ya RasoolAllah She's dedicating herself to the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam, to the Messenger of Allah. The Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam says, you know, to have someone from your folk, your male folk that would marry you off. So she brings forth Hatib ibn Amr, who of course was her brother-in-law, was the brother of Sakran ibn Amr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So he marries her to the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam. Now at this point, there is that one brother, right? We said that Saudah had two brothers. She had one who became Muslim and who made the migration to Abyssinia as well. And she had another brother by the name of Abd ibn Zam'a who would become Muslim later on, but at this point was a staunch enemy of the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam. And look at what he does. He protests the marriage. They're still in Mecca. This is around, you know, this is the year of grief. This is around the hardest time of the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam's life. And he goes to the Ka'bah and he puts dirt on his head and he starts to slap his head and he starts to cry out of protest, right? And lamenting that the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam has married Saudah radiAllahu ta'ala anha. Imagine how Abd ibn Zam'a felt when he became Muslim later on, right? Knowing that he did that, that he stood in front of the Ka'bah and protested
who he now knows and recognizes as the messenger of Allah sallAllahu alayhi wasallam becoming his brother-in-law, marrying his sister. So Abd ibn Zam'a, he used to say that, I remember a day that I was a silly person. Inni la safihun. I was completely silly, right? To put it kindly. Yawma ahdu ala raasi at-turab an tazawwaj al-nabiyu sallAllahu alayhi wasallam as-saudah. What a silly person I was, putting dirt on my head that the messenger of Allah sallAllahu alayhi wasallam married my sister Saudah radiAllahu ta'ala anha. And of course, as we said, he would become Muslim later on as well. So the mahr for Saudah radiAllahu ta'ala anha was 400 dirhams. And I think this is something that is very important to just set the scene in terms of the role that Saudah plays. For three years, listen very carefully, for three years, she was the only wife with the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam. How is it that a woman that plays such a prominent role in his life sallAllahu alayhi wasallam is so unknown? Three years, it was just her and him sallAllahu alayhi wasallam. Because Aisha radiAllahu ta'ala anha, while the proposal was accepted, they would wait for her to come of age three years later, and then she would consummate the marriage with the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam. So for three years, it's just Saudah with the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam. What are the implications of that? That means that al-Israa wal-Mi'raj, right, which obviously we just got done many programs that people have about al-Israa wal-Mi'raj in the time of Rajab, you know, and talking about al-Israa wal-Mi'raj, that she was the wife of the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam at that time. And she was the only wife of the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam at that time. That when the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam made the hijrah to Medina, the only wife he had at the time that he was living with was Saudah radiAllahu anha. That when he came to Medina and the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam set up his initial home of the hujurat, of the homes of the Messenger sallAllahu alayhi wasallam,
this was the only woman that would have her home with the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam. So think about how close she was to the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam and think about how much history is there between Saudah and the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam. And again, this was a woman that brought so much joy to his life and we'll talk about that inshaAllah. Just to knock out a few key incidents here. Number one, when it comes to the hijrah, the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam sent her, Saudah, and Fatima and Umm Kulthum, Umm Ayman and Usama ibn Zaid, along with Zaid ibn Haritha and Abu Rafa' to migrate on the trip to Medina. May Allah be pleased with them all. So Saudah radiAllahu anha migrated amongst the family of the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam and would settle with the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam in Medina. And before I get to those qualities, what are some key incidents? Well for one, in the Battle of Badr, when Suhail ibn Amr sets out with Quraish to meet with Abu Sufyan and then to ambush the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam in the Battle of Badr, what we find is that Suhail was amongst those who were captured first and taken prisoner at the battle. And Abdullah, the son of Suhail, fled him and went to the other side. So Suhail ibn Amr, who was the brother-in-law of Saudah, comes to the battle. His son Abdullah flees and joins the Muslims at that time. And Suhail is captured and taken prisoner at Badr. Now think about this when you're thinking about Suhail with his chest puffed out in Hudaybiyyah, that the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam could have killed him as a captive in Badr. And he comes to the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam as a prisoner. And Umar ibn al-Khattab radiAllahu anhu, he says to the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam, Ya RasoolAllah, so we know that Umar radiAllahu anhu has a history with Suhail ibn Amr, even in Hudaybiyyah, where he wanted to take him out. He was hoping someone would just kill him and do away with him.
But of course Suhail would become Muslim and would become amongst the key voices, stopping people from becoming apostates after the death of the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam. So here's some more history. Umar ibn al-Khattab radiAllahu anhu said to the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam, Ya RasoolAllah, let me knock his front two teeth out, so that way his tongue will stick out and he'll never be able to speak against you again. Let me make an example out of him. Let me knock his teeth out. Let me make him look a certain way, so that his tongue, which he has used against you so much, will not be used against you anymore. And the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam tells Umar radiAllahu anhu to back off of him, to leave him alone. Suhail, as a prisoner, of course being the smart man that he was, he finds a way to tell those that are holding him that he needs to use the bathroom, and he runs off and he escapes, and he almost gets away from Medina, and then he's captured once again, and he has his hands tied to his neck, which was not common, but it was done because Suhail radiAllahu anhu was obviously a prisoner that could get away. So Suhail is brought to the house of Saudah radiAllahu anhu, because that's his former sister-in-law. And Saudah looks at him and she sees him in this humiliating state, and she says to him, Ya Aba Yazid, you surrendered way too easily. You should have at least fought till you died a noble death. And when she said that, she's forgetting obviously that he's fighting against the Muslims. So the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, he heard her and he said, are you energizing him against Allah and his Messenger salAllahu alayhi wa sallam? Are you trying to get him to fight against Allah and his Messenger salAllahu alayhi wa sallam? And she apologized obviously, and the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, he smiled at her to put her at ease that it was okay. So at that point, the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam made a comment to everyone to treat the prisoners well. And of course, the Sahaba mentioned that because of how they treated them so well, they fed them before they fed themselves at times.
And many of those that became Muslim from the captives of Badr specifically remembered and recalled that example of the kind treatment that the Muslims gave to them at Badr. So that's one key incident with Saudah radiAllahu ta'ala anha. Another key incident is that the verse of hijab was actually revealed in response to Saudah radiAllahu anha. She used to go out like the wives of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam to the common areas where they would relieve themselves. And Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu recognized her and he said to Saudah, we recognized you, ya umul mu'mineen, oh mother of the believers. And Umar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was hoping for the ayat of hijab to be revealed and the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam did not respond to him until Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala revealed the ayat in Surat al-Nur. So those verses were revealed, I'm sorry, in Al-Hizab, those verses were revealed in direct connection to Saudah radiAllahu ta'ala anha. Now, once she moves in with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and they settle in Medina, then Aisha radiAllahu ta'ala anha becomes of age and three years later she marries the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam as well, or rather she consummates the marriage with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. And Aisha radiAllahu ta'ala anha would look to Saudah not as a competitor, not as someone that she felt threatened by, not as someone that she was annoyed by, but rather she looked at her like an older sister and in some ways even a mother and a role model. And Saudah radiAllahu ta'ala anha nurtured that relationship with Aisha radiAllahu ta'ala anha as well. To the point that Aisha radiAllahu anha said, ma ra'aytum ra'atan ahabba ilayya an akuna fee maslakhiha min Saudah. That there is no person that I love to be in the company of and follow her example than Saudah radiAllahu ta'ala anha. And she had a hiddah, a determination to her, a strong resolve and firmness to her radiAllahu ta'ala anha.
So she's my role model, she's the person that I wanted to emulate most because of her example radiAllahu ta'ala anha. And Aisha radiAllahu anha loved her and considered her one of her closest friends. So Saudah being the oldest wife of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, as the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam of course would marry more as Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala commanded him salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. Saudah radiAllahu ta'ala anha always sort of plays this role of being the woman that is known for bringing joy to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and that brings a sense of calmness to every environment that she is in. So first we see the way that she would joke with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. And you find some specific incidents. One of them is that one day she saw the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam in distress and she wanted to make the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam laugh. So she said to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, she said, Ya Rasulullah salaytu khalfaka layla fa raka'ta bi hatta amsaktu bi anfi makhafata an yaqtura ddam. She said to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam that Ya Rasulullah I prayed behind you last night and you took so long in your ruku' that I had to hold my nose because I was afraid makhafata an yaqtura ddam that the blood would start coming down from my nose. And the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam dhahika, he laughed salAllahu alayhi wa sallam to the point that his back teeth were visible and the sadness that was on his face disappeared. And Aisha radiAllahu anha says she used to dhahikuhu salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, she used to always make him laugh when she saw him saddened alayhi salatu wa salam or that he was going through certain things. So she brought jokes and joy to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. She was also a good cook and Aisha radiAllahu anha was not a good cook. So you find an incident where again, and these are narrations from Aisha radiAllahu anha, our mother, about our mother Saudah radiAllahu anha.
That once Aisha radiAllahu anha made a dish and she had Saudah in her home with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. And when the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam began to eat, because Rasulullah salAllahu alayhi wa sallam would eat whatever was put in front of him from his spouse salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, Aisha noticed that Saudah wasn't eating her food. So she told her why and Saudah basically told her that she wasn't interested in eating the food that Aisha made. So Aisha radiAllahu anha says to her jokingly, she says, if you don't eat my food then I'm going to smear it in your face, I'm going to put some of it on your face. So Saudah does not eat and Aisha radiAllahu anha playfully, she puts some of the food on the face of Saudah. And Rasulullah salAllahu alayhi wa sallam tells Saudah, you know, you should reciprocate. So Saudah radiAllahu anha puts some of the food back on Aisha's face and they started to laugh and we all started to laugh. Aisha radiAllahu anha says we all laughed, including the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, until Umar radiAllahu anhu came and then we continued on with our day. Aisha radiAllahu anha says that Saudah also had a particular fear of a Dajjal. So we used to talk about a Dajjal and this shows you a different side of the Sahaba, right, which is an important one. But we would talk about a Dajjal to the point that she would get scared and she literally, one time we talked about him so much that she hid, thinking that he was going to come in the room. And the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, he entered into the room and he saw Aisha and Hafsa laughing and he said where is Saudah? And they said that she's afraid of a Dajjal and so she's in the corner over there. And Saudah radiAllahu anha comes out laughing and the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam laughed and Aisha laughed and Hafsa laughed and Saudah laughed. So this was a lighter side to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and his companions and particularly his family that we often don't get a lot of time to really expose ourselves to.
So she was someone that loved to laugh and she loved to bring laughter to other people. And she in that sense was generous with her spirit and it makes sense that her most prominent quality is her Sadaqah. After her laughter, her generosity of spirit and bringing joy to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and to the other family members of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, she's known for her charity. And Aisha radiAllahu anha says Saudah was the most generous of people. Anything that came to her, she used to immediately give it in charity. Whether it was a gift or something that was allotted to her as a portion, she immediately gave it in Sadaqah. To the point that she would prepare anything that she had and she would give it as gifts to those young girls that were getting married. So she's kind of assuming that position of being a mother to the believers in the full sense even then, right? Of course all of the wives of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam are mothers. But she's taking on that role as well of giving these gifts to those that are young and that are getting married. And anytime anyone sent her gifts, subhanAllah, she would not even look at what was sent to her. Aisha radiAllahu anha says that one time Umar radiAllahu anhu sent her a bucket of dirhams and she did not even look at the bucket, right? She just kept on sending it out and anything that came to her radiAllahu ta'ala anha, she immediately gave it up for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We also find that Sauda radiAllahu anha who again likes to sort of live in obscurity, bring that joy to the life of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, does not confront anyone. No one has a complaint against her. No one says that they ever had a fight with Sauda radiAllahu ta'ala anha. So she's in her own world in that sense. As she becomes aged and as she gets to a point where she is old and she is not able to really do much at that point,
so Aisha radiAllahu anha says she got to a point where she would walk with a very slow pace radiAllahu ta'ala anha and she really could not do much. And because of that, she says to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam that ya RasoolAllah la hajatali fi rijal, that ya RasoolAllah I'm not interested in men. And what she means by that is that I'm not in a place to be intimate anymore. And the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam offered to relieve her and to basically divorce her so that she would not feel the burden of a wife in that sense. And she says ya RasoolAllah la hajatali fi rijal, I'm really not interested in intimacy or in being married in that sense. But listen to what she says to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. She says, walakinni uhibbu an uba'atha fee nisa'ika yawm alqiyama. She said ya RasoolAllah but I want to be resurrected on the day of judgment as one of your spouses. I want that position on the day of judgment in Jannah to be a wife of yours. So she says to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, how about I give my night to Aisha radiAllahu anha. But at the same time I want to be your wife. And as Aisha radiAllahu anha said, tabataghi bidhalika ridha RasoolAllah salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. That she was seeking the pleasure of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. And also out of her love for Aisha radiAllahu anha, she basically says to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam that you don't have to spend my night with me. But at the same time I want the status of being your wife on the day of judgment in particular. So she ages quite a bit in the time of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. And that's why you find the narrations in the Hajj of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. Where he took all of his spouses salAllahu alayhi wa sallam on Hajjatul Wada' on the farewell Hajj. That we have the narrations about the elderly and the women that left early from Muzdarifa.
Because Aisha radiAllahu anha says that particularly Sauda who was not able to move at a quick pace. Asked the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam for permission to leave Muzdarifa early so that she could beat the crowds. And this is where the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam gave that permission to Ibn Abbas radiAllahu anhu to take Sauda and to take some of the elderly and some of the women out from Muzdarifa early on. And of course that permission relieves many even until today. And we find that because of that also that after her Hajjatul Wada' she was unique. In that she never made Hajj again and she really did not leave the home much after the death of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. So we find that when we look at the wives of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam after the death of the Messenger salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. They played the role of teaching, they played the role of conveying the message. Conveying so much of what they learned in being in the presence of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. Especially when you talk about Umm Salama and Aisha may Allah be pleased with them. But when it comes to Sauda radiAllahu ta'ala anha this woman subhanAllah our mother never did Hajj again, did not leave the house much at all, was not one who would narrate a Hadith, was not one who involved herself in any of the political disputes of the Muslims. Her life was literally dwelling in Al Medina and when anything came to her of a portion giving that in Sadaqah and continuing to live her life in a way where she was at peace with everyone around her. Living a private life, a very private life. So much so subhanAllah can you imagine the wife of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam so much so that there is even dispute about whether she died in the year 644 up until 674. A 30 year span where Sauda radiAllahu anha could have died.
Certainly it seems after the age of 80 years old she could have died any time in that span because of her wanting to sort of stay to herself radiAllahu ta'ala anha and live whatever was left of her life pleasing Allah subhanAllah wa ta'ala and simply living a life of private ibadah. So with three years with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam alone as his singular spouse at that time and with the entire span of Medina and with all that we have of her early Islam in Mecca and everything in Abyssinia. All of that and how many ahadith does she narrate? Only five ahadith. Only five ahadith total from this wife of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam who lived her life in such a way. And subhanAllah you find her generosity even continued that when she died she asked for her room to be merged with the room of Aisha radiAllahu anha to give Aisha radiAllahu anha more space because she loved Aisha radiAllahu ta'ala anha so much. And when she died there was not a single complaint about her. Everyone only remembered her loving and her generous spirit and Ibn Abbas radiAllahu ta'ala anhuma in particular by the way when he heard of her death he fell into sujood and he said that I heard the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam say that when a sign comes to you you should prostrate and he said what greater sign, what greater ayah is a'adhamu min dhihaabi azwajil nabis salAllahu alayhi wa sallam is greater than the death of the wives of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. So he fell into sujood and her janaza was again you know it was not a grand janaza. She was selfless in life, selfless even in her death radiAllahu ta'ala anha. Selfless with her spirit brought joy to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, brought joy to everyone that was around her, was our mother the wife of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, an older sister to our mother Aisha radiAllahu ta'ala anha and to Hafsa radiAllahu
ta'ala anha and someone who certainly played a role that we cannot fully appreciate from the little information that we derive from the books but certainly it is written with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and her joy with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and her desire to be with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam in janatul firdaus is written as she requested to be that wife of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam in al-firdaus. So may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala be pleased with our mother Saudah radiAllahu ta'ala anha, allow us to meet her, allow us to be with her and to be with her husband our beloved Rasulullah salAllahu alayhi wa sallam in janatul firdaus. Allahuma ameen. JazakumAllahu khayran. I'll see you all next week inshaAllah. Asalaamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
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