Sawdah bint Zam'ah
Sawdah bint Zam'ah Mother of the Believers | |
|---|---|
| سَوْدَةُ بنت زَمَعَةَ | |
| Born | Sawdah bint Zamʿah c. 566–580 CE |
| Died | Shawwal 22 AH ; c. September/October 644 CE. |
| Resting place | Jannat al-Baqi, Medina |
| Known for | Second wife of Muhammad |
| Title | ʾumm ul-mumineen |
| Spouses |
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| Children | Abdur Rahman ibn Sakran |
| Parent |
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| Family | Banu Amir (by birth) Ahl al-Bayt (by marriage) |
Sawdah bint Zamʿah (Arabic: سودة بنت زمعة) was the second wife of Muhammad and therefore 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.[1] 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 55 years old, which would only narrow her birthday to around 566-580 CE.[2][3] Her father, Zam'ah ibn Qays, was from the Banu Amir ibn Lu'ayy clan of the Quraysh tribe in Mecca. Her mother, Al-Shamus bint Qays, was from the Najjar clan of the Khazraj tribe in Madina.[4] Not much is known about her early life before Islam.
First Husband and First Hijra
She married As-Sakran ibn Amr, who was one of the early converts to Islam.[4] They had at least one son, Abdur Rahman ibn as-Sakran, who much later died in the Battle of Jalula in 637 against the Sassanids.[5]
Migration to Abyssinia
Sawdah and Sakran emigrated to Abyssinia[4] when Muhammad ordered many of the Muslims to perform Haj in order to avoid persecution by the Quraysh. Sakran left for Abyssinia by sea with Waqqas.[citation needed] Sawdah was one of the first women to immigrate to Abyssinia in the way of Allah.[6] Few years later they returned to Mecca, where As-Sakran died, and she became a widow for the first time in her life.[7]
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.[8] 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.”[9]
When Sawdah became old, some time after Muhammad's marriage to Umm Salama,[10] it was reported that he was afraid he couldn’t treat every one of his wives fairly without hurting them, despite that he tried his best to. He decided to divorce Sawdah in concern of hurting her. But Sawdah stopped him in the street and begged him to take her back by offering to give up her turn for his conjugal visits at night to Aisha, of whom he was very fond.[11] Sawdah pleaded that she was old anyway and did not care for men; her only wish was to be resurrected as the prophet's wife on the day of judgment. Muhammad felt empathy and agreed, 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.[12]
Later life and death
After the death of prophet Muhammad, Sawdah along with other wives received a gift of money annually from the Caliphate, which she spent on charity.[citation needed] She, Aisha, Hafsa, and Safiyya always remained very close.[6] She lived a long life and died in 54 AH in Medina, where she was buried in Jannat-al-Baqi.[13] Ibn Sa'd puts her date of death to the year 674.[14] After her death, Muawiyah I, the reigning first caliph of the Umayyad dynasty, bought her house in Medina for 180,000 dirhams.[citation needed] According to other sources, she died in Medina towards the end of caliph 'Umar's reign in 22 AH, 644 CE.[8][15]
References
- ^ Understanding the Islamic Law, Raj Bhala, Section: Sawda bint Zama.
- ^ Ibid. Understanding Islamic Law, Raj Bhala. pp. Quote.
Mohammad next married this older widow, Sawda bint Zama. [...] Sawda was an older woman when she married Mohammad, yet her precise birthdate is unknown. Many sources claim she was older than Mohammad, who was about 50-52 years at that time.
- ^ Le livret de famille du prophète Mouhammad, Damas-Syrie, MR Antique Groupe, page 9.
- ^ a b c 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.
- ^ Vacca, V. "Sawda Bint Zamʿa." Encyclopaedia of Islam, First Edition (1913-1936). Brill Online, 2012. Reference. 2 October 2012.
- ^ a b Ibn Kathir. "Wives of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW)". Archived from the original on 2 August 2013. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b Al-Tabari. History of Al-Tabari, Vol. 39. pp. 161 & 170. Archived from the original on 26 December 2021.
- ^ Al-Tabari (1 January 1998). History of Tabari - Volume 39. p. 171.
- ^ Al-Shati, Bint (December 2006). The wives of the Prophet. Matti Moosa (trans.), D. Nicholas Ranson. Gorgias Press LLC. p. 52. ISBN 978-1-59333-398-0.
- ^ Vacca, V. (1995). "Sawda BT. Zamʿa B. Ḳayyis B. ʿAbd Shams". Encyclopaedia of Islam. Vol. 9 (2nd ed.). Brill Academic Publishers. pp. 89–90. ISBN 90-04-10422-4.
- ^ Wessels, Antonie (1972). A modern Arabic biography of Muḥammad: a critical study of Muḥammad Ḥusayn Haykal's Ḥayāt Muḥammad. Brill Archive. pp. 105–6. ISBN 978-90-04-03415-0.
- ^ Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqat Vol.8 page 56. Persian translation by Dr. Mohammad Mahdavi Damghani. (1982). Tehran Iran Farhang va Andiheh Publications.
- ^ Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqat Vol.8 page 56. Persian translation by Dr. Mohammad Mahdavi Damghani. (1982). Tehran Iran Farhang va Andiheh Publications.
- ^ Adil Salih, Mohammad: Man & Prophet/Muhammad sceau des prophètes, Tawhid, pp. 585-586.
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