Umme Habibah Bint Abi Sufiyan

Umme Habibah (ام حبیبة) was the title of Ramlah bint Abi Sufiyan ibn Harb ¹ ibn Umayyah ibn Abd Al-Shams Al-Qurayshi. ² Some historians state that her name was Hind, ³ but, the consensus is that her name was Ramlah. ⁴ She was born around 17 years before the declaration of Muhammad’s prophethood. ⁵ She was the sister of Muawiyah bin Abi Sufiyan ^{6 7} and her mother’s name was Safiyah bint Abul A’as. ⁸ Her father Abu Sufiyan was a

initially and a foremost enemy of Muhammad and , however, later on, he became a Muslim.

Life before Marriage with Prophet Muhammad

She was initially married to Ubaydullah ibn Jahsh, the brother of Zaynab bint Jahsh . ⁹ Umme Habibah and her husband accepted Islam while her father, Abu Sufiyan remained a

, hence, fearing the persecution of Quraysh, she and her husband emigrated to Abyssinia during the second migration with the other Muslims. ¹⁰ In Abyssinia, she gave birth to a daughter who was named ‘Habibah’ and her mother Ramlah, became famous with the title of Umme Habibah . ¹¹

After some time, they got to know that Umar ibn Al-Khattab and Hamzah ibn Al-Muttalib had embraced

. To them, this news meant that Makkah was now safe for Muslims, hence many Muslims went back to Makkah. However, Umme Habibah and her husband stayed back along with some Muslims. ¹² Later on, she had a dream in which she saw that her husband was in a very bad state. She saw this dream transform in to a reality when she heard that her husband had renounced Islam and embraced Christianity. When she tried to reason with him, he said that he had studied and compared many religions, and had found Christianity to be the best for him. So, he converted to Christianity. He even tried to convince her to denounce Islam, but she remained faithful to it. ¹³ She even mentioned her dream to him, but he did not listen. So, she said: By , Christianity is not a better religion for you ¹⁴ than Islam.

At that time, she was overwhelmed with grief. ¹⁵ She could not understand why her husband had given up

after suffering so much for it. If he had wanted to be a Christian, he should have stayed in Makkah, as those people did not persecute Christians. The second problematic thing was that she could not continue to stay with him as he was no longer a Muslim, so, she had no choice but to leave him. It is reported that he died later on, due to alcohol abuse. ¹⁶

When she looked at her child and thought about the child’s father and grandfather, she felt ashamed and humiliated, as one was already an infidel and the other had become a Christian. She wanted to go back to Makkah, but since her father was an open enemy of Islam, she could not stay with him. Her in-laws were already in Abyssinia, so their home in Makkah was empty as well. So, after looking at these options, she decided that Makkah was forbidden to her. Thus, she stayed in Abyssinia and prayed to

Almighty. ¹⁷

Marriage with Prophet Muhammad

Soon after, the news of Ubaydullah’s apostasy and death and Umme Habibah’s plight reached the Holy

. In order to solve her problem, he sent Amr bin Umayyah to the Negus of Abyssinia and asked him to betroth Umme Habibah to Him. ¹⁸ The Negus felt honored to be given this duty and knew that this would also strengthen the ties between the Muslims and Abyssinians.

So, when the

(waiting period) of Umme Habibah was over, Negus sent his maid servant to her and informed her about the proposal sent by Muhammad . Umme Habibah was extremely content with the proposal and prayed for the maid who had brought her this good news. She even gave her two silver bracelets and some silver rings as a gift. The maid then told her that the King had asked Umme Habibah to appoint someone (wakeel) to marry her to the Holy Prophet . ¹⁹ So, she appointed Khalid ibn Saeed ibn Al-Aas as her wakeel and sent him so that he could marry her to the Holy Prophet . ²⁰

Hence, Negus organized a wedding ceremony and invited all the Muslims of Abyssinia. The Muslims came under the leadership of Jaffer ibn Abi Talib and Khalid ibn Saeed ibn Al-Aas . When everyone had arrived, Negus said:

  الحمد الله الملك القدوس السلام المؤمن المهيمن العزيز الجبار، أشھد أن لااله الا الله وأن محمدا عبده ورسوله وأنه الذى بشر به عيسى ابن مريم عليه السلام. ²¹

  I thank Allah, the Sovereign, the Holy One, the Source of Peace, the Guardian of Faith, the Preserver of Safety, the Exalted in Might, the Irresistible, the Supreme. I testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad () is his Messenger. And we were told of Muhammad () by Jesus, the son of Mary.

Then, he addressed them again and said that he had gathered them all because

Muhammad had written to him and asked him to marry Umme Habibah to him. Hence, he had responded to his request and asked the wakeel of the bride whether he accepted marrying Umme Habibah to Prophet Muhammad against a dowry of 400 dinars. The wakeel, Khalid ibn Saeed replied that he agreed to marrying Umme Habibah to the Holy Prophet . ²²

After the wedding ceremony, the people were about to leave, but Negus stopped them and said that it was in the custom of the Prophets that when they got married, they offered food, and this food needed to be eaten. Hence, the food came and the guests ate and left. ^{23 24}

The next day, Negus’s maid was sent to Umme Habibah , carrying valuable gifts from the wives of Negus for the bride. These gifts included amber, aloes-wood and perfumes. She accepted the gifts and preserved them, thinking of carrying them to the house of the Holy Prophet in Madinah. ^{25 26} She stayed in Abyssinia until the conquest of Khayber, after which the Holy Prophet sent Amr ibn Umayyah Al-Dhamri as a messenger to Negus, and asked him to return the remaining emigrants back to Madinah, as the Muslim nation was now strong and stable. Negus agreed and also presented two ships to the Muslims, which carried them back to Madinah. ²⁷ When they reached Madinah, the Holy Prophet took Umme Habibah to his home and honored her as one of The Mothers of the Faithful. Prophet Muhammad then had a room built for her, next to the rooms of his other wives. There, she lived a very happy life with her husband and daughter.

She was a noble, patient and truthful woman who loved

and his Messenger more than her father and family. Furthermore, she had devoted her life for the cause of Allah and had endured great hardships for it. She spent most of her time in praying and learning the and Ahadith, and it is said that she narrated 65 Ahadith. ²⁸

Abu Sufiyan’s Visit

When the people of Makkah breached the armistice, the treaty of Hudaybiyah, the Quraysh feared its consequences, hence they sent Abu Sufiyan to Madinah so that he could pacify the Holy

. When he could not convince the Holy Prophet , he went to see his daughter, hoping that she would intervene on his behalf. They had not met for fifteen years, ²⁹ when he entered her house, the following event occurred:

  He entered the chamber, but when he tried to sit on Prophet Muhammad’s carpet, she pulled it back and folded it. He said, I hardly know if you think that the carpet is too good for me or am I too good for the carpet. She replied, it is the carpet of the Holy Prophet , and you are an impure

polytheist

, hence, I don’t like if you sit on it. After hearing this, he said: Evil has come to you since you left me. ³⁰

She did not allow him to sit on

Muhammad’s carpet which shows her extreme love and sincerity to the Holy Prophet . This was one of the major causes which made Abu Sufiyan convert to , as he got to know his position in the eyes of his daughter and other Muslim relatives. It is said that this was the time when he thought to embrace Islam, which finally occurred after The Conquest of Makkah.

Demise

When she was nearing her death, she wished to see The Mothers of the Faithful, so that she could clear her matters with them. Aisha narrates:

  Umme Habibah called me at the time of death and said that we have sometimes acted like rival wives, so may

Allah

forgive us both for that. I absolved her and asked for her forgiveness as well. Umme Habibah said: you have made me happy by forgiving me, may Allah make you happy too. She then called for Umm-e-Salamah and asked the same thing from her as well. ^{31 32}

She also forgave her and then, she passed away in peace in 44 A.H., during the reign of her brother Muawiyah . ^{33 34} She is buried in the Jannat Al-Baqee.

 

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