Barakah bint Tha`labah or Ummi Ayman (RA)

The early history of Islam is marked by many remarkable African individuals who played an important role in the life of the Prophet ﷺ and the beginnings of Islam. Barakah bint Tha`labah or as she later became more famously known as Ummi Ayman was the name of the woman whom the noble Prophet ﷺ esteemed so highly. She was the first person to hold him in her arms when he was born and the only person who knew him from that point right until his death. She was the woman whom he would refer to as his “mother after my own mother. She is the rest of my family.”

Her beginnings were more than humble. In her youth, the Abyssinian girl was put up for sale in Makkah as a slave. In pre-Islamic Arabia, slavery was no shame, and slaves were treated like animals. But Barakah was blessed to be treated with kindness. She was bought by a noble and gentle man, Abdullah (RA), the father of the Prophet ﷺ.

Barakah (RA) not only took care of Abdullah’s affairs as a servant in his home, but after he married the Prophet’s ﷺ mother, she looked after Amina (RA) as well.

It was Umm Ayman (RA) who slept at the foot of Amina’s (RA) bed and comforted her when, only two weeks after her wedding, her husband was instructed to leave for that journey to Syria, after which he never came back. It was Umm Ayman (RA) who took care of Amina (RA) during her pregnancy. It was Umm Ayman (RA) who gave Amina (RA) the news of her husband’s death at Yathrib. As the Prophet ﷺ faced tragedy upon tragedy, Umm Ayman (RA) was there for him. Even later in his life whenever he was faced with a difficulty, it was this noble woman who was by his side, as can be seen from the following event.

عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسِ، قَالَ لَمَّا حُضِرَتْ بِنْتٌ لِرَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم صَغِيرَةٌ فَأَخَذَهَا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَضَمَّهَا إِلَى صَدْرِهِ ثُمَّ وَضَعَ يَدَهُ عَلَيْهَا فَقَضَتْ وَهِيَ بَيْنَ يَدَىْ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَبَكَتْ أُمُّ أَيْمَنَ فَقَالَ لَهَا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏”‏ يَا أُمَّ أَيْمَنَ أَتَبْكِينَ وَرَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم عِنْدَكِ ‏”‏ ‏.‏ فَقَالَتْ مَا لِي لاَ أَبْكِي وَرَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَبْكِي فَقَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏”‏ إِنِّي لَسْتُ أَبْكِي وَلَكِنَّهَا رَحْمَةٌ

‏It was narrated that Ibn ‘Abbas (RA) said: “When a young daughter of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was dying, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ picked her up and held her to his chest, then he put his hand on her, and she died in front of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Umm Ayman (RA) wept and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said ‘Oh Umm Ayman, do you weep while the Messenger of Allah is with you?’ She said: ‘Why shouldn’t I weep when the Messenger of Allah is weeping.” So the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said “Verily, I am not weeping. Rather it is compassion.’ [Sunan an-Nasa’i 1843]

It was only after the Prophet ﷺ married Khadija (RA) that she married, and that too, on their insistence.
She married Ubayd ibn Zayd (RA) from the Khazraj tribe of Yathrib and they had a son named Ayman, thus her name Umm Ayman.

When the Prophet ﷺ received the prophet hood, Umm Ayman (RA) was among the first Muslims, and like the others, bravely faced the punishments of the Quraysh for those who dared to believe.

During the Battle of Uhud she gave out water to the thirsty soldiers and took care of the wounded. She accompanied the Prophet ﷺ on some expeditions.

She tied her well-being to that of Islam. During a visit from the Prophet ﷺ, he asked: “Ya Ummi! Are you well?” and she would reply: “I am well, O Messenger of Allah so long as Islam is.”

Umm Ayman’s (RA) husband died not very long after their marriage. When she was in about her 50s, the Prophet ﷺ, when speaking to his companions said, “Should one of you desire to marry a woman from the people of Paradise, let him marry Umm Ayman.”

It was Zayd bin Harithah (RA) who stepped forward and agreed to marry her. They had a son named Usamah who was described as “the beloved son of the beloved.” In other words, the Prophet ﷺ loved both, he and his father.

One example of Umm Ayman’s dedication to Islam and the Prophet was when she trekked across the burning desert through sandstorms on foot from Makkah to Madinah to join the Prophet ﷺ. Despite the harshness of the journey though, she persisted, and was given good news when she reached her destination.

When she got to Madinah, swollen feet, dust-covered face and all, the Prophet said to her,
“Ya Umm Ayman! Ya Ummi! (O Umm Ayman! O my mother!) Indeed for you is a place in Paradise!”
She became a widow again, after Zayd (RA) was killed during the Battle of Mutah in Syria. She also lived to see her other son’s martyrdom at the Battle of Hunayn.

She lived to see her other “son” die as well: the Prophet ﷺ. This was the most tragic for her.

Anas bin Malik (RA) reported: After the death of Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), Abu Bakr (RA) said to ‘Umar (RA): “Let us visit Umm Ayman (RA) as Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to visit her”. As we came to her, she wept. They (Abu Bakr and ‘Umar (RA) said to her, “What makes you weep? Do you not know that what Allah has in store for His Messenger ﷺ is better than (this worldly life)?” She said, “I weep not because I am ignorant of the fact that what is in store for Messenger of Allah ﷺ (in the Hereafter) is better than this world, but I weep because the Revelation has ceased to come”. This moved both of them to tears and they began to weep along with her