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Khawla Bint Hakim & Uthman Ibn Madhun: The Righteous Couple | The Firsts
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Al-Shifa bint Abdullah (ra): The Healer and Scholar | The Firsts Shorts
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Shurahbil Ibn Hasana (ra): The Scribe and Commander | The Firsts Shorts
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Khalid ibn al-Walid (ra): The Legendary Military General | The Firsts
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Amr ibn al-As (ra): His Wicked Father and “Better” Brother | The Firsts
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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
Umm Habiba (ra): A Dream Come True (Part 1)
Umm Habiba (ra) embraced Islam despite her father being a chief antagonist and migrated to Abyssinia where she would be widowed. She would then await some sort of sign of what was to come. That sign came through a dream that would result in the most unique wedding in the Seerah.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh everyone and welcome back to the first. Bismillah walhamdulillah wassalatu wassalamu ala rasulillah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man walah. So alhamdulillah we have completed now the story of Umm Salama radiAllahu ta'ala anha. And as I said the next set of companions that I want to go through are companions who traveled through the land of Habesha, the land of Abyssinia or modern day Ethiopia. And so all of the next several stories are going to be stories of companions whose journey intersected with Habesha so that you can have a better example or a better idea of how Mecca and Abyssinia worked for the early Muslims of course prior to the hijrah, the migration to the city of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, Al-Madina. And in this situation here we also have the chance to cover another one of our mothers, the mother of the believers Ummul Mu'mineen, Umm Habiba radiAllahu ta'ala anha, the daughter of Abu Sufyan. And Umm Habiba radiAllahu ta'ala anha has a story that starts off similar to Umm Salama radiAllahu ta'ala anha but then takes a completely different turn and offers a very different dimension to some of the struggles of the early Muslims. And I want you to think about this that as we're going through the sahabah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam you're seeing that each one of them had a unique story, a unique struggle and sometimes that gets lost when you're just talking about persecution and that's it. But there's the struggle of being a widow, there's the struggle of being separated from your husband, there's a struggle of your parents still being on the other side, there's a struggle of you know all sorts of financial difficulties and class difficulties. The struggle of Ibn Mas'ud is different from the struggle of Abu Dharr, the struggle of Uthman is different
from the struggle of Ammar. All of them have very unique struggles and different struggles. In the case of Umm Habiba radiAllahu ta'ala anha she has one of the most beautiful stories also laced with pain in the initial days of Islam that we come across when we look at the companions of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. So let's talk about who she was before Islam and just give a brief description of her. She was born 14 or 15 years before the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam received revelation. So she's born in around the year that would put her at 595 or 596 before the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam received revelation and so that would make her about 25 years younger than the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam and we don't have much information about her prior to Islam. We know a lot about her tribe. We know a lot about the different challenges that her tribe in particular posed to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam and the way that the dynamics of that tribe really would not just play a role in the early days of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam or even in the late days of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam but really the story of Islam and that is the tribe of Banu Umayyah. Banu Umayyah is considered the rival tribe of Banu Hashim and Banu Mahzum. So if you remember we spoke quite a bit about Banu Mahzum. Banu Mahzum being the tribe of the likes of Abu Jahl right and Banu Umayyah is also the tribe of some of the most powerful enemies of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam as well as some of the most powerful companions of the Messenger sallallahu alayhi wasallam. But it definitely was one that resisted the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam quite a bit and one that was known for its torture of some of the early Muslims. And so Bilal radiya
Allah ta'ala Anhu was tortured amongst them. Ammar and Sumayyah and the family of Yasir are tortured amongst Banu Mahzum and you have these two tribes that rejected the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam primarily because he was from Banu Hashim. Not because they objected to his creed but because they worried about ceding territory or power to the tribe of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam and the implications of acknowledging a Prophet from Banu Hashim. So you have these three tribes that were the most powerful tribes of Quraysh, the most powerful clans of Quraysh always competing for something. Competing for royalty, competing in regards to hospitality, competing in regards to their finances. These are things that would rotate throughout the year between these three tribes. And so when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam declares that he is a Prophet of Allah, of course her father Abu Sufyan, the father of Umm Habibah would be one of the most powerful opponents of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And we know that Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was from this tribe. And Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu is notably not just one of the first wealthy people to accept Islam but he is also the first person from Banu Umayyah to accept Islam. This would make her, being one of the early converts, probably the second person to accept Islam from Banu Umayyah which is very significant. She is from this tribe and she's not just from this tribe. Her father is one of the most powerful men of this tribe, Abu Sufyan, who of course would play a role in the story of Islam throughout the life of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. So before I get back to Abu Sufyan, let's talk about her mother for a bit. Her mother is Safiyyah bint Abil Aas. And her
mother being Safiyyah bint Abil Aas is the paternal aunt of Uthman bin Affan radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And so through that she is the first cousin of Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu through her mother's side. And of course Uthman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu would be amongst those that would migrate to Abyssinia as well as we have already covered. And as we said, the first of Banu Umayyah to accept Islam. And we don't know much about Safiyyah bint Abil Aas and most of the sources seem to suggest that Safiyyah actually passed away before Islam. So she was not there to, you know, to be an antagonist or to be an enemy or an opponent or embrace the religion of her daughter. And she is Um Habiba, her name being Ramla. Um Habiba is the only child of Abu Sufyan and Safiyyah bint Abil Aas. Abu Sufyan would marry many, many women throughout his lifetime. And so she had many half brothers and half sisters. But, you know, she is the only child according to some sources of Abu Sufyan and Safiyyah bint Abil Aas with some disagreement on some of her other half brothers and half sisters. Her father, Abu Sufyan, his name was Sakhr ibn Harb. And it's a befitting name at the time, right? Sakhr, of course, meaning stone, the son of war. Both things that represented much of the enmity of Abu Sufyan to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam in the early days of Islam. He was a person who was powerful, noble, eloquent, wealthy. He was known for being a great diplomat. He was someone that was very popular with the foreign emissaries that would come to Mecca. He had a relationship with some of the rulers and some of the heads of state around Mecca. So he's a noble man in the sense of his lineage, in the sense
of his power, in the sense of his tribe. And he was someone that was also well versed in poetry and considered to be one of the more literate people in Mecca. And why that's significant is because Abu Sufyan would recognize something of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam early on. And that's why you find some of these early narrations of Abu Sufyan almost accepting Islam, right? Going and listening to the Quran being recited from the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. But his tribalism held him back in the early days of Islam and the power held him back in the early days of Islam. So he's a powerful man, but he's also a very literate man. He's a noble man and he is going to be a great opponent to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, considered the chief antagonist of the Muslims later on after his companions, Abu Sufyan's companions died. What do I mean by that? You know, I don't suggest that you take your Islam from movies, but you know, when you're looking at some of those, those movies about Seyar and things of that sort, right? The Message and others, you'll find that there's always, you know, a rotating role of who's going to be the antagonist of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. But what is, what seems to be the case is that Abu Sufyan initially was not first in line in antagonizing the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam in relation to the likes of Abu Jahl and Uqba bin Abi Mu'id and some of those other powerful names that you hear about. Okay. So he was, while he was amongst that group of elites, he was not the face of that group of elites antagonizing the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. However, Abu Sufyan did not go out to Badr where most of them died, right? And so after Badr, where most of the companions of Abu Sufyan who were antagonizing the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam passed away, Abu Sufyan was considered
one of the only elders left behind. Khalid radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu was considered a young man. Amr bin al-As, a young man compared to Abu Sufyan. So he's one of the last elders who is left from the opponents of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And so he really assumes the role of being the chief antagonist of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam post Badr, post Badr. And of course we know that it was his wife Hind bint Utbah, not the mother of Umm Habibah because Umm Habibah's mother was a different mother, but Abu Sufyan 's wife Hind bint Utbah who would pay Wahshi to assassinate Hamza radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu and mutilate his body in Uhud and chew from his liver. So these were, you know, this is the family of Umm Habibah, right? I mean you're talking about, you know, the chances of her or the likelihood of her embracing Islam with this type of environment. Now of course, just like in the case of Umm Salama who preceded her family to Islam, Umm Habibah preceded all of her family to Islam. Abu Sufyan would become Muslim, Hind would become Muslim, Yazid, the son of Abu Sufyan, not Yazid ibn Muawiyah who of course is a much later figure, Yazid ibn Abu Sufyan and Muawiyah ibn Abu Sufyan would all become Muslim at Fath Makkah, at the conquest of Makkah. So prior to the conquest of Makkah, she is the only one from her family who would embrace Islam at that time. And Abu Sufyan of course would maintain that role of still being the chief antagonist of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, post-Badr sort of pulling the strings and commanding the opposition to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and plotting against the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam until Fath Makkah. Now if you recall, you know, the marriage of Umm Salama radiAllahu ta'ala anha softened the heart of a very prominent man, Khalid ibn al-Walid radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Later
on the marriage of Umm Habibah to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam would soften the heart of Abu Sufyan towards Islam quite a bit. But in this situation where Islam has just begun in Makkah, Umm Habibah embracing Islam early on is what many historians point to as potentially one of the reasons why Abu Sufyan was not as harsh to the Muslims as some of the other chiefs were in the early days of Islam because his own daughter was amongst the Muslims and Abu Sufyan had a soft spot for her. So that's something that some of the scholars will point out that Abu Sufyan held back in comparison to the tribal elite that existed at his time, the other chiefs that existed at his time, and how the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was being opposed. Now, how does she come into Islam? What we learn from Umm Habibah radiAllahu ta'ala anha is that she was married to a very famous man by the name of Ubaidullah ibn Jahsh. Ubaidullah ibn Jahsh was the brother of Zaynab ibn Jahsh radiAllahu ta'ala anha and also the brother of Abdullah ibn Jahsh and Hamna bint Jahsh. So all of these siblings embraced Islam. And in fact, they all are the children of Umama bint Abdul Muttalib, the aunt of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. So if I could, you know, sort of highlight this to you or illustrate this to you, Umama bint Abdul Muttalib is the paternal aunt of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And all four of these children, Ubaidullah, Abdullah, Zaynab, and Hamna, who would marry Mus'ab ibn Umair, are her children and all
of them accepted Islam. So that's one of the things that bonds these four together. But Ubaidullah also belonged to another group of four. And these were the four that were known as the Hanifs, that were known as the Monotheists before the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam received revelation. These are the four that abandoned idolatry. You should know two of them very well by now. Waraka ibn Naufal radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, Zayd ibn Amr ibn Nufail radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, who we of course covered both of them very early on in the series. And then the other two were Uthman ibn al-Huwairith and Ubaidullah ibn Jahsh. And these two, like Waraka, accepted Christianity. Okay, so Ubaidullah left idolatry prior to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam receiving revelation and accepted a version of Christianity just like Waraka ibn Naufal and just like Uthman ibn al-Huwairith ibn Asad. And so when the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam declared his prophethood as Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala had descended revelation upon him, Ubaidullah was quick to accept the message of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam as was Umm Habibah. And so they are generally looked at as part of the first 15 or 16 to embrace Islam. But we don't have any narration about their actual incident of conversion. So we don't actually know how they converted or when exactly they converted. And of course part of that is due to the fact that a lot of these early conversions were done quietly and secretly due to the fear of family and tribal pressure. And this was of course going to be the case for Umm Habibah who is the daughter of none other than Abu Sufyan. So Ubaidullah ibn Jahsh and Umm Habibah
radiAllahu ta'ala anha accept Islam. Abu Sufyan finds out eventually and this of course, you know, hurts him deeply. And he considers himself one of the staunchest enemies of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and he is embarrassed. He is embarrassed that his own daughter has accepted his faith. So he had a hard time facing Quraish knowing that his daughter was amongst the ranks of the Muslims. Of course this was not the case with Abu Jahl, right, at that time. Iqrama would become Muslim much later. This was not the case with Uqba ibn Abi Mu'id. So you have a man who is embarrassed that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam has amongst his followers his own daughter. And as we said, that could have lightened the pressure that would be shown from Abu Sufyan towards Umm Habibah radiAllahu ta'ala anha and towards the early Muslims even though we definitely do see a strong exertion of pressure on Umm Habibah and Ubaidullah when they accepted Islam just like the early Muslims faced. Now, when did they make hijrah to Abyssinia? So we don't have any narrations about any specifics about their persecution in Mecca as they embraced Islam. They were amongst those who took the second migration to Abyssinia. Remember there were two migrations to Abyssinia and then of course the migration to Al Medina. And there are only a few companions who have the distinction of having done all three hijrahs, right, Umm Salama radiAllahu ta'ala anha being amongst them. In this case you have Umm Habibah and Ubaidullah who could no longer bear the persecution that they were facing in Mecca and they make their way to Abyssinia with the second batch or the second migration to Abyssinia which was a larger group. At that point they still did not have any children and she was still merely Ramla and that is
when she was pregnant with her daughter Habibah while they were making hijrah from Mecca to Abyssinia. So according to most accounts she actually made the hijrah, she actually migrated from Mecca to Abyssinia while she was pregnant with her daughter and Habibah like Salama to Umm Salama was born in Abyssinia. So SubhanAllah you actually find a lot of sahaba who grew up to be scholars of the deen who were actually born in Abyssinia, right, which is significant in and of itself and gives us a certain layer of Abyssinia, a layer of Habasha that perhaps we're not appreciating. So Habibah was born in Abyssinia and that is where Ramla, bint Abi Sufyan becomes known as Umm Habibah and she will carry that kunya, she will carry that name for the rest of her life and that is how she is documented in the book. So you're not going to find her in the chains of hadith narrated as Ramla but instead you will see her narrated as Umm Habibah radiAllahu ta'ala Anha. Now when they get to Abyssinia this is where you see something that only happened with her being narrated. The narrations that are found in the books of seer, in the books of biography, they say that Umm Habibah radiAllahu ta'ala Anha had a dream about her husband Ubaidullah ibn Jahsh with a disfigured face and she was shocked by that dream. So she sees a dream of her husband with a disfigured face which indicates something not pleasant about him and as soon as she sees that dream she comes to find out that Ubaidullah ibn Jahsh after having left idolatry to become a Christian and then left Christianity or embraced the Prophet radiAllahu ta'ala Anha to solidify his monotheism and to solidify his connection to divine revelation after
fleeing from Mecca due to persecution. So after this long journey had renounced his Islam and had accepted the religion of the masses in Abyssinia which was the religion of Christianity. So he reverts back to Christianity but there is a very particular thing that is mentioned which is his addiction to alcohol. So he began to miss wine, he missed the drinking of wine, he missed the drinking of alcohol and he would drink alcohol frequently and the narrations say, akabba alal khamri hatta mat. That is, he would drink alcohol until he basically became a drunkard until he died which is a very unique story. This is unlike any other story of the companions of the Prophet radiAllahu ta'ala Anha. And I actually want to sit with this narration for a moment. This narration is found in all of the books of Sira pretty much. However, I don't personally feel comfortable asserting this narration with certainty about Ubaidullah for the following reasons. Number one, this narration is highly consequential, right. This is not an added detail to a story. This is not something that gives us an added layer of appreciation that simply has a moral to a story or gives us, you know, some sort of historical benefit or character benefit like we find in many of the stories of the companions of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. That the chains of those stories, the secondary stories are not scrutinized like the chains of hadith. And of course the chains in Sira, the chains of narration are not scrutinized as heavily in Sira as they are in a hadith because this is where we take lessons. This is where we develop wholesome biographies and you know the scrutiny is not going to be as much from a traditional perspective, from a scientific perspective when you are deriving some of these narrations. And so
you might have some of these stories that show up that are popularized in the books of Sira, but they don't actually have a strong chain of narration, okay. We would still use these stories if they are not consequential because them not having a strong narration, a chain of narration like an authentic hadith does not mean that they're weak. It just means that they are not as certain as the words of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and the ways that the hadith come to us with such a level of scrutiny to ensure authenticity. In the case of Ubaidullah ibn Jahsh, this story is highly consequential and so we have to exercise some caution with these narrations, especially since none of the chains, the actual sanad, the actual chains of narration are authenticated that affirm that he indeed apostated and that he became a drunk and that he left Islam and died in that state. In fact, there's a narration Abu Dawood where Umm Habibah simply summarizes it by saying that, you know, we had just gotten to Abyssinia and barely met Najashi and then he passed away. So we know that he died in Abyssinia. Certainly the popular narrations within the books of early biography of early Sira suggest that he died having left Islam. And even if we were to take that popular narration, his leaving Islam is not depicted as a sincere reversion away from the faith, but instead a sad addiction to alcohol, right? A complacency of sorts after they moved to Abyssinia and having fought all of the hardships that come with being persecuted with their faith. Now, you know, blending into his new society and reverting to an addiction to wine and addiction to alcohol. So this is not a sincere reversion away from faith, even as it is depicted in the popular narrations. However, as I would say, while we would take the
benefit of that, and obviously, you know, there's much benefit to learn from that about guarding our faith no matter what and not letting our faith go and, you know, the importance of thabat, the importance of firmness instead of fastness. Again, I would just say we don't affirm this idea that Ubaidullah died upon apostasy with 100% certainty. We say, well, Allahu a'lam with that because we don't have an authentic chain to really affirm that or make that certain. However, the story continues, okay? In any case, Umm Habibah radiAllahu ta'ala Anha is in a very difficult situation. She has to manage now alone in a foreign land, raising her young daughter, and she has no one from her relatives to take care of her, okay? Her father, of course, is Abu Sufyan. She can't go back to Mecca and remain a Muslim, right? If she goes back to Mecca as a Muslim, holding her baby girl, she'll immediately be taken in and forced to renounce her faith or at least pressured to renounce her faith and persecuted in a way that was far worse than when she had her husband Ubaidullah bin Jahsh when she left Mecca in the first place. So she's there in Abyssinia. She remained firm through that test and she's stuck. She cannot go back to Mecca as a widow. She doesn't have anyone in Abyssinia. They are living as a community in exile. She's really stuck. She's not, you know, at this point now, many Muslims had migrated from Abyssinia to Medina. Once the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam made way to Medina, some of them went back to Mecca, got their stuff, joined the caravans to Medina, some of them went straight to Medina. She's stuck. She's with the group of Muslims that are there in Abyssinia that have missed that window, right? And as she
is in this peculiar situation, Umm Habiba radiAllahu ta'ala Anha has another dream. And in this dream, a caller is calling her Ummul Mu'mineen, the mother of the believers. So she woke up in shock. Wait a minute, what? Right? There is only one group of people that are called Ummahatul Mu'mineen, the mothers of the believers, and those are the wives of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. Here I am stranded in the land of Abyssinia with my daughter. I am the daughter of Abu Sufyan. I have no connection to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam whatsoever. This doesn't make sense, but she took it as a good sign. It was a good dream, a dream that pleased her. And so she continued to wait and she says that as soon as she had had that dream, you know, a knock came on the door and the next episode of her life was about to reveal itself. Now let's talk about the inner workings of that next episode of the life of Umm Habiba radiAllahu ta'ala Anha. The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam had heard of the difficulty of Umm Habiba radiAllahu ta'ala Anha and he knew what she was going through, then that she was in a completely unique and different situation. So he sends a letter to Al-Najashi, As-Hama radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu with Amir Ibn Umayyah. And the letter reads to Al-Najashi to propose marriage to Umm Habiba on behalf of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. And if she agrees, I want you to be my wakil. I want you to be my representative. Allahu Akbar. Now I don't want to get back into Al-Najashi, but a lot of this is about to be about Al-Najashi. The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam had Sahaba that were still there in Abyssinia. He had Ja'far there. He could have appointed Ja'far to be his wakil. He could have appointed Ja'far to represent him in the marriage. But he appointed Al-Najashi being the only wakil,
the only representative of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam in such a contract. So this was very significant, very special that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam chose Al-Najashi to be his wakil despite the presence of some of his most beloved companions and family members that were still left over in Abyssinia. So Al-Najashi, you know, obviously honored by this letter. Remember he told Ja'far, he sent back to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam that if I was not occupied, preoccupied by my rulership, then I would come to you to carry your shoes. He wanted to serve the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. So this is a way to do khidmah to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, to serve the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. Imagine how excited Al-Najashi was, how honored Al-Najashi was to be this representative of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam in such an intimate affair. So Al-Najashi, he sends a servant girl by the name of Abraha. This is not the Abraha that of course was destroyed in Surat Al-Fil. Okay, this is not that Abraha. This is Abraha, a servant girl who Al-Najashi chose to go and knock on the door of Umm Habibah and to propose to her on behalf of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, who would be represented by Al-Najashi. Umm Habibah radiAllahu ta'ala Anha says that when the knock came and I opened the door that I was so happy when Abraha told me what had happened that I took off all of my jewelry and I gave it to the young girl and she screamed takbir. That's how happy she was, right? Like her dream had come true. The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam indeed proposed to her. How? We're not even going to talk about how. How would she even make it to Medina? How would this marriage even take place? None of that is important. The point is, is that a proposal has come to her to be married to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and Abraha, this young servant girl, I mean seeing the reaction,
right? Being entrusted to carry out that request on behalf of Al-Najashi to Umm Habibah. You know, she comes back and she's, you know, she has all this jewelry from Umm Habibah radiAllahu ta'ala Anha and Al-Najashi then calls for the Muslims in Abyssinia to a private nikah ceremony in his palace. This scene is an incredible scene. He dismisses all of his guards and he brings in the Muslims. And as he brings in the Muslims, and you can imagine the scene, Ja'far Ibn Abi Talib radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu amongst them. Khalid Ibn Sa'id amongst them. Abdullah Ibn Hudhafa As-Sahmi amongst them. Some of these noble companions, great companions amongst them. Najashi carries out the nikah on behalf of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. He gives the mahr from his own end. The mahr was 400 gold dinars and this was the largest mahr that anyone had received from the wives of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. It's equivalent to about $70,000. Please don't do $70,000 mahrs today. This is a very unique situation, okay? This is a gift and Najashi is honored to be in a situation where he gets to be the representative of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. So he brings the mahr from his own end of 400 gold dinars to the widow, Umm Habiba radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. The scene of the palace of Najashi, it was decorated in the most beautiful of ways and it was clearly a festive occasion and one that the Muslims were not used to. Now realize the Muslims as they lived in this community of exile, all the indications seem to indicate that the only one that Najashi maintained a relationship with was Ja'far radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. It's not like they were hanging out in his palace all the time. He took care of them. They maintained themselves on the side and they were protected and they were
able to live in good fortune as a Najashi radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu has promised. But now they're in the palace of a Najashi missing the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and then Najashi addresses the gathering on behalf of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and the wali of Umm Habiba was Khalid Ibn Sa'id radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu, one of the early Muslims as well who was the closest relative to Umm Habiba in Abyssinia. So I'm actually going to read out what a Najashi says to the gathering. Imagine the scene, they're in the palace, Najashi has dismissed his guards and this is not them seeking freedom. This is them celebrating the wedding of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam is not there. So Najashi begins, he stands up and he addresses the gathering and here's how he chooses to address the gathering. He says Alhamdulillah Almalikul Quddusus Salamul Mu'minul Muhaiminul Azizul Jabbar. So he reads the names of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. He begins by praising Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and reading some of the names of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And then he says Ashhadu an la ilaha illa Allah wa anna Muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluhu wa anna hu allathee bashshara bihi Isa Ibn Maryam amma ba'd. He bears witness to the oneness of Allah and that Muhammad SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam is a servant and messenger and that he is the one whom Jesus gave the glad tidings of. This is Najashi addressing the gathering and he says Fa inna rasulullah SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam kataba ilayya an uzawwijahu um habibata binta Abi Sufyan Fa ajabtu ila ma da'a ilayhi rasulullah SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam wa qad asdaqtuha arba'mi'ati dinar. He said that the messenger of Allah wrote to me asking me to marry him to Um Habibah, the daughter
of Abu Sufyan and I answered the call of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and I have given as a mahr, as a dowry, 400 dinars. This is Najashi addressing the gathering as a full Muslim. Khalid Ibn Sa'id he then stood up and Um Habibah is narrating by the way her own wedding here. I mean this is a really interesting wedding. The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam is not there. Khalid Ibn Sa'id he stood up and he praised Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and he sent salawat on the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and he said to Najashi that I have married to you Um Habibah in accordance with what was said. Fabarakallahu li rasulillah. SubhanAllah. So basically mubaruk or mubarak to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. Congratulations to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, to the messenger of Allah SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. So the nikah has completed now and the expectation is that they are going to go away. But remember Najashi gets to represent the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. No one gets the opportunity to be the wakil of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. So once Najashi completed the nikah, Khalid Ibn Sa'id responded. Najashi gave, he actually presented the 400 gold dinars in that gathering. Then Najashi sees that they're about to leave. He says all of you sit down. He says it is the sunnah. It is the way of the Prophets of Allah that when a marriage is carried out that food is served. The sunnah of the Anbiya, the sunnah of the Prophets of Allah is that when a marriage is carried out there is a waleema, the food is carried out. So Najashi starts to bring the food forward and he serves them all sorts of food and he carries out a feast on behalf of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. And so the wedding of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and Umm Habibah radiAllahu ta'ala Anha takes place. The most lavish wedding, the largest mahr and the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam is not even there. And there is no timeline as to when Umm Habibah can even join the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. So this is the wedding of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and Umm Habibah
with the Najashi getting to represent the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. And this was a beloved feast to the Muslims. Obviously one, you know, that is certainly a night to remember for them in the palace of Najashi celebrating the marriage of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam to Umm Habibah radiAllahu ta'ala Anha. Umm Habibah says that she then developed a relationship with Abraha, the young servant girl who a Najashi sent to give her the good news. Abraha comes back the next day and a Najashi has sent with her to Umm Habibah all sorts of jewelry, diamonds, oils, skins, and everything that Umm Habibah could want. So a Najashi is not done being the wakil of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and just giving her the mahr. He starts to give her all sorts of goods. And Abraha is the one who delivers it to Umm Habibah. And Abraha, as she is developing a relationship with Umm Habibah, she asks Umm Habibah one thing. Umm Habibah asks her what she wants, right? What do you want? You know, SubhanAllah, you're in this situation where you're delivering all of these goods and you're witnessing, you're a part of my joy. And she says to Umm Habibah, she says, I only want one thing from you. Umm Habibah says, what is that? She says that if you find yourself in the presence of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and you remember me, then give my salam to him because I'll probably never get to meet him. SubhanAllah. She's like, I, who am I, right? I'm this servant girl in Abyssinia. And eventually when you're in the presence of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, give my salam to him, greet him on my behalf. Just remember my name. If you think of me,
then mention me to him because I'll probably never get to meet him. SubhanAllah. And you know, that's her one request. Give my salam to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. And Umm Habibah radiAllahu ta'ala Anha, she says that when I met the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, after all those years, by the way, six years later, six years later, it was six years from the wedding to when she actually got to be with the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. It took six years for her to join the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, who was her husband, all six of those years. And she says, when I met the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, I told him about all the arrangements and all the things that had happened and the way that Najashi represented him and everything that took place. And I told him about Abraha and I told him that she became a Muslim and that she told me and she reminded me frequently that if I ever meet you to convey her salam to you. So the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, he was joyful and he responded, Wa alayha salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Right. And upon her be the peace, the mercy and the blessings of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. SubhanAllah, when we send salam to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, an angel carries it to him and he responds to us. When Abraha sent salam to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, Umm Habiba carried it to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and he responded to her. So SubhanAllah, I mean, it's such a powerful story, a unique story here that Abraha has this connection to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. And you know, you can reflect on this idea that just like a Najashi who never met the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam but loved him so dearly, here was this young simple girl in Abyssinia, thousands of miles away from the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam that loved him so much that the only thing she wanted more than jewelry or gold or anything to
celebrate hearing about the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam was that someone would carry salam to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. And we have that available to us. When we say Allahumma salli wa sallim ala nabina Muhammad, Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala has appointed an angel to every single time someone sends salawat upon him to deliver our salam to him and the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam responds to each one of us. And it's also, you know, the fear that she had or the thought that she'd never get to be with him in this dunya. How is it now, and Allah knows best, you know, as the souls gather, how is it now when those that are with those whom they love Anta ma'min ahbaat, where people are no longer separated by land or by the circumstances of this world, but they are with those whom they love, that are Najashi and Abraha would be with the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. So as we said, Umm Habiba radiAllahu ta'ala, she wouldn't get to be with the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam until seven years after hijrah, so six years after that wedding had taken place. And there is something very interesting about this. That Abu Sufyan, who was a tribe chief, who was an opponent of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, but as we said, a very intelligent and literate man, when he heard about the marriage of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam to Umm Habiba, he actually was not sad, he was actually happy. And he said, that is a noble steed that cannot be rejected. And this is where Ibn Abbas radiAllahu ta'ala, he says that this is actually the context of the ayah, As'allahu in yaj'ala baynakum wabayna allatheena AAadaytum minhum mawadda wallahu qadeer wallahu ghafoorun raheem Perhaps Allah will make friendship between you and those whom you hold as enemies and Allah has power over all things and Allah is most forgiving, most merciful. So Ibn Abbas radiAllahu ta'ala says, this was actually speaking to the marriage of Umm Habiba
to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. And so she migrated to Medina from Abyssinia and seven years after the hijrah as part of the group of Ja'far radiAllahu ta'ala Anhum and she would stay in Abyssinia as we said for six years after marrying the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam but she would only be with the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam for three years before he would pass away AAalayhi Salatu Wasallam and she would join her community in Al Medina. So this is really, you know, when you think about stories, SubhanAllah, you don't find many that are anywhere close to this in the circumstances and the semblance of them. And as we said, there's something about the wisdom of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala of course, marrying the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam to Umm Habiba radiAllahu ta'ala Anhum and what that would do to turn the heart of Abu Sufyan eventually to Islam as well. InshaAllah ta'ala next time we'll continue with the life of Umm Habiba just like with Umm Salama after the migration and we'll talk about her life with the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and some of the legacy, the aspects of the legacy of Umm Habiba radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu. InshaAllah ta'ala, before that I want to remind you all that this coming Monday bi'n-innahi ta'ala we have our webathon, A Light in the Darkness and we are asking everyone inshaAllah ta'ala to be a part of that Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern. You can register at the link below inshaAllah ta'ala and it will run for a couple of hours and we're asking you to continue to support the work of Yaqeen to be able to provide everything that we do alhamdulillah without any charge, free and accessible with your support and of course with the aid of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala more than anything else. So please do join us inshaAllah ta'ala, sign up at the link below and join us inshaAllah ta'ala this coming Monday. JazakumAllahu khayran
Wassalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh
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