Sawdah bint Zam'ah

Sawda bint Zam'a (Template:Langx) was the second wife of Muhammad and regarded as "Umm-ul-Mu'mineen" (Arabic: أمّ المؤمنين, romanized: ʾumm al-muʾminīn), "Mother of the Believers".

Early life

Sawdah was born and raised in Mecca in Pre-Islamic Arabia. There is a disagreement as to when she was born.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> According to one source, when she was married to Muhammad, her age was around 50, other sources claim her age during the marriage to be around 40 to 65 years old, which would only narrow her birthday to around 556-580 CE.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Her father, Zam'ah ibn Qays, was from the Banu Amir ibn Lu'ayy clan of the Quraysh tribe in Mecca. Her mother, Al-Shumus bint Qays, was from the Najjar clan of the Khazraj tribe in Madina.<ref name="Tabari2">Tabari, Tarikh al-Rusul wa’l Muluk. Translated by Landau-Tasseron, E. (1998). Biographies of the Prophet’s Companions and Their Successors vol. 39 p. 169. New York: SUNY Press.</ref>

First husband and first Hijra

She married As-Sakran ibn Amr, who was one of the early converts to Islam.<ref name="Tabari2"/> They had five children, Abdur Rahman ibn as-Sakran and Abd ibn as-Sakran, who much later died in the Battle of Jalula in 637 against the Sassanids.<ref>Vacca, V. "Sawda Bint Zamʿa." Encyclopaedia of Islam, First Edition (1913-1936). Brill Online, 2012. Reference. 2 October 2012.</ref>

Migration to Abyssinia

Sawdah and Sakran emigrated to Abyssinia<ref name="Tabari2"/> when Muhammad ordered many of the Muslims to perform Hijra in order to avoid persecution by the Quraysh. Sakran left for Abyssinia by sea with Waqqas.Template:Citation needed Sawdah was one of the first women to immigrate to Abyssinia in the way of Allah.<ref name="Kathir">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A few years later they returned to Mecca, where As-Sakran died, and she became a widow for the first time in her life.<ref>Tabari, Tarikh al-Rusul wa’l Muluk. Translated by Landau-Tasseron, E. (1998). Biographies of the Prophet’s Companions and Their Successors vol. 39 pp. 169-170. New York: SUNY Press.</ref>

Marriage to Muhammad

Soon after Khadija's death, Muhammad married Sawdah in the same month of Ramadan of the 10th year after the start of his prophethood.<ref name="Tabari12">Template:Cite book Template:Usurped</ref> Sawdah was hesitant to accept at first, as she already had six children and feared that they would disturb Muhammad. But Muhammad convinced her by saying, “The best women ever to have ridden the backs of camels are the virtuous women of the Quraysh, who are the most affectionate toward small children and the most excellent in doing good to their husbands when they [the women] are wealthy.”<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

When Sawdah became old, some time after Muhammad's marriage to Umm Salama,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and Qur’an 4:128–9 was revealed. Other traditions, on the other hand, hold that Muhammad did not truly repudiate her but that she was afraid he would, and it was not repudiation that was being considered in the verse revelation but rather some kind of compromise on the divorce so long as she could remain his wife in name,<ref name="Wessels">Template:Cite book</ref> as in Nikah Misyar marriages.

Later life and death

After the death of Muhammad, Sawdah along with other wives received a gift of money annually from the Caliphate, which she spent on charity.Template:Citation needed She, Aisha, Hafsa, and Safiyya always remained very close.<ref name="Kathir"/> She lived a long life and died in 54 AH in Medina, where she was buried in Jannat-al-Baqi.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Ibn Sa'd puts her date of death to the year 674.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> After her death, Muawiyah I, the reigning first caliph of the Umayyad dynasty, bought her house in Medina for 180,000 dirhams.Template:Citation needed According to other sources, she died in Medina towards the end of caliph 'Umar's reign in 22 AH, 644 CE.<ref name="Tabari12"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

External links

• 2 Muslims.com
• SAWDA bint Zam'a

{{#invoke:Navbox|navbox}} Template:Authority control