One of them is Emetullah bint Rezīna. To speak accurately, her mother Rezīna was present with the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). This will be explained further on. However, as narrated in the transmission of Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim, on the day of Banū Qurayẓa and Naḍīr, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) took Ṣafiyya captive, then set her free and married her. As her bridal gift (mahr), he gave her Emetullah’s mother, Rezīna (or perhaps Ruzayna).
This is indeed a strange hadith.
Another of the Messenger of God’s female slaves was Umayma. The people of Syria have transmitted hadith from her. Zubayr b. Nufayr also narrated that she assisted the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) during his ablutions. One day, a man came to her and said:
– Advise me. She replied: “Even if you are cut to pieces or burned with fire, do not associate anything with Allah (do not commit shirk). Do not deliberately abandon any prayer. Whoever deliberately abandons prayer is outside the protection of Allah and His Messenger. Do not drink intoxicants, for drinking intoxicants is the root of every sin. Do not disobey your parents. Even if they command you to leave your family and your worldly possessions, do not disobey them.”
Another of the Messenger of God’s female slaves was Umm Ayman. Her real name was Baraka bint Thāliba b. ʿAmr b. Ḥuṣayn b. Mālik b. Salama b. ʿAmr b. Nuʿmān al-Ḥabashiyya, but she was more commonly known by her kunya, Umm Ayman. Ayman was her son from her first husband, ʿUbayd b. Zayd al-Ḥabashī. After her first husband, she married Zayd b. Ḥāritha and bore him Usāma b. Zayd. She was also known by the kunya Umm Ziba.
She migrated twice. May Allah be pleased with her. Along with the Messenger of God’s mother, Āmina bint Wahb, she served as his nurse. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) inherited her from his father, according to Wāqidī. Others say he inherited her from his mother. Some have said she was the slave of Khadīja’s sister and was gifted to the Messenger of God by her, that she believed early on, but migrated after the Prophet. It is also said that after the Prophet’s death, she was visited by Abū Bakr and ʿUmar, and that during their visit she wept. When they asked her:
– Do you not know that what is with Allah is better for the Messenger of God?
She replied:
– I am weeping because revelation will no longer come down from heaven.
Upon this, Abū Bakr and ʿUmar also wept with her, as previously mentioned.
In his work “al-Tārīkh,” Bukhārī, through the chain of ʿAbdullāh b. Yūsuf, narrates from al-Zuhrī:
“Umm Ayman served the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) until she grew old. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) set her free and then married her to Zayd b. Ḥāritha. She died five months after the Prophet’s death. Some say she died six months after. Others say she lived after the killing of ʿUmar.”
Muḥammad b. Saʿd narrates from Wāqidī:
“Umm Ayman died at the beginning of the caliphate of ʿUthmān b. ʿAffān.”
Wāqidī, through Yaḥyā b. Saʿīd b. Dīnār, narrates:
“The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) would address Umm Ayman as ‘O my mother!’ and when he looked at her, he would say: ‘She is the last of my family.’”
Abū Bakr b. Abī Khaythama, from Sulaymān b. Abī Shaykh, narrates: “The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to say: Umm Ayman is my second mother after my own mother.”
Wāqidī narrates from his companions in Medina:
“Umm Ayman saw the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) drinking water and said to him:
– Give me some water. Upon seeing this, ʿĀʾisha rebuked her:
– Are you saying this to the Messenger of God?
Umm Ayman replied:
– Because I have served him for so long, I have the right to ask. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘You have spoken the truth,’ and gave her water to drink.”
Mufaḍḍal b. Ghassān, through Wahb b. Jarīr, narrates from ʿUthmān b. Qāsim:
“When Umm Ayman set out on the migration, she spent the night at the place called Munsaraf after al-Rawḥāʾ. She was fasting and very thirsty, to the point of exhaustion. A bucket full of water, attached to a white rope, was lowered to her from the sky. She said:
– I drank from that bucket, and after that I never felt thirsty again, even when fasting on the hottest days!”
Ḥāfiẓ Abū Yaʿlā, through Muḥammad b. Abū Bakr al-Muqaddamī, narrates from Umm Ayman:
“The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) had a jug in which he would urinate. In the morning, he would say: O Umm Ayman, empty the jug. One night I awoke very thirsty and drank what was in the jug. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
– O Umm Ayman, empty what is in the jug. I replied:
– O Messenger of God, I was very thirsty when I awoke at night, so I drank what was in the jug. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
– From this day on, you will never complain of stomach pain!”
In his work “al-Ghāba,” Ibn al-Athīr, through Ḥajjāj b. Muḥammad, narrates from Umayma bint Raqīqa:
“The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had a wooden vessel in which he would urinate and place under his couch. A woman named Baraka came and drank what was in the vessel. Later, when the Prophet asked about the vessel, he was told that Baraka had drunk its contents. He said: Baraka has protected herself from the Fire with a wall.”
Ḥāfiẓ Abū’l-Ḥasan b. Athīr said: It is said that the woman who drank the Prophet’s urine was Baraka al-Ḥabashiyya, who came from Abyssinia with Umm Ḥabība. There is a difference between these two women. Allah knows best.
As for Burayra, she was a slave belonging to the family of Abū Aḥmad b. Jaḥsh. She entered into a contract of manumission (mukātaba) with them. ʿĀʾisha bought her from them and set her free, thus she became her freedwoman. Both Bukhārī and Muslim have authentic hadiths on this matter. However, Ibn ʿAsākir did not mention these women.
Another of the Messenger of God’s female slaves was Ḥaḍra. Ibn Mandah mentioned this and cited the view of Muʿāwiya, who narrated from Jaʿfar’s father Muḥammad: “The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had a servant named Ḥaḍra.”
Muḥammad b. Saʿd narrates from Salma:
“I, Ḥaḍra, Radwā, and Maymūna bint Saʿd were servants of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). He set us all free.”
Another of the Messenger of God’s female slaves was Ḥulayysa. She was originally the freedwoman of Ḥafṣa, the daughter of ʿUmar.
In “al-Ghāba,” Ibn al-Athīr said: Ḥulayysa narrated the story of Ḥafṣa and ʿĀʾisha’s jesting with Sawda bint Zamʿa: “Ḥafṣa and ʿĀʾisha said to Sawda: ‘The Dajjāl has appeared.’ Sawda hid in a house where they had lit a fire. They began to laugh. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) came and asked:
– What is the matter? When they told him what they had done to Sawda, he went and saw her. Sawda said:
– O Messenger of God, has the Dajjāl appeared?
– No.
– I thought he had!
After saying this, she came out of the house and began to shake off the cobwebs from herself.”
Ibn al-Athīr also mentioned Ḥulayysa, the mistress of Salmān al-Fārisī, and said: “There are things to be told about Salmān’s entry into Islam, his manumission, and the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) paying his manumission price. Salmān planted 300 date palms for his mistress as the price of his freedom.”
Another of the Messenger of God’s female slaves was Ḥawla. Ibn al-Athīr said so. She served the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). She narrated the hadith about the delay of revelation due to the death of a puppy under the Prophet’s couch, which they were unaware of.
After the corpse of the puppy was removed from under the couch, revelation began to come again, and the following verse (āya) was revealed:
“By the morning brightness, and by the night when it covers with darkness...”
This is a strange narration. According to the well-known opinion, these verses were revealed for another reason. Allah knows best.
Another of the Messenger of God’s female slaves was Rezīna. Ibn ʿAsākir said: In fact, this slave belonged to Ṣafiyya bint Ḥuyayy. She served the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him).
I say: When discussing the biography of Rezīna’s daughter Emetullah, we mentioned that when the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) married Ṣafiyya bint Ḥuyayy, he gave Rezīna as her bridal gift. Thus, Rezīna was in the Messenger of God’s possession.
Ḥāfiẓ Abū Yaʿlā narrated from Emetullah, daughter of Rezīna:
“When Allah granted victory to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) on the day of Qurayẓa and Naḍīr, he took Ṣafiyya captive. When Ṣafiyya saw the women being led away, she said: ‘I testify that there is no god but Allah and that you are the Messenger of Allah.’ Thereupon, while her hand was in the Messenger of God’s hand, he set her free and proposed marriage to her. When he married her, he gave her Rezīna as her bridal gift.”
The truth is that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) acquired Ṣafiyya among the spoils of Khaybar, set her free, and her freedom was her bridal gift. To say that she came into his possession on the day of Qurayẓa and Naḍīr is a confusion, for there are two years between the battles of Khaybar and Qurayẓa/Naḍīr. Allah knows best.
Ḥāfiẓ Abū Bakr al-Bayhaqī, in his work “Dalāʾil,” narrates from Amīna, mother of ʿUlayka bint Kumayt al-ʿAtīka:
“I said to Emetullah, daughter of Rezīna, the freed slave of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him): – O Emetullah, have you ever heard your mother narrate about the Messenger of God’s fasting on ʿĀshūrāʾ?
– Yes, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) greatly valued fasting on the day of ʿĀshūrāʾ. He would call his children and Fāṭima’s children, put his saliva in their mouths, and tell their mothers: ‘Do not nurse them until nightfall.’”
Another of the Messenger of God’s female slaves was Radwā. Ibn al-Athīr, through Saʿīd b. Bashīr, narrates from Qatāda:
“Radwā bint Kaʿb asked the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) about the ruling on a menstruating woman applying henna. The Messenger of God said: ‘There is no harm in it.’”
Another of the Messenger of God’s female slaves was Rayḥāna bint Shamʿūn al-Quraziyya. Some say she belonged to the Naḍīr tribe. After mentioning the wives of the Messenger of God, we have discussed her previously.
Another of the Messenger of God’s female slaves was Zarīna. The correct and true name of this woman is Rezīna, as mentioned earlier.
Another of the Messenger of God’s female slaves was Sāʾiba.
Another of the Messenger of God’s female slaves was Sadīsa al-Anṣāriyya. It is said that she was the slave of Ḥafṣa bint ʿUmar. She narrated that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
“After ʿUmar entered Islam, Satan did not confront him. If he did, he would fall on his face.”
Another of the Messenger of God’s female slaves was Sallāma, who nursed and cared for his son Ibrāhīm.
Another of the Messenger of God’s female slaves was Salma. She was the wife of Abū Rāfiʿ, known as Umm Rāfiʿ. Wāqidī narrates from her:
“I, Ḥaḍra, Radwā, and Maymūna bint Saʿd served the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). He set us all free.”
Imām Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal narrates from Salma, the servant of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him):
“I never heard the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) say anything to those complaining of headaches except: ‘Get cupped (ḥijāma),’ and to those complaining of their feet: ‘Apply henna to your feet.’”
Musʿab al-Zubayrī said: Salma was present at the Battle of Ḥunayn.
I say: According to the narrations, Salma used to bake bread with fat for the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him), and he was very fond of it.
Salma lived after the death of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) and witnessed the death of Fāṭima (may Allah be pleased with her). She was originally the slave of the Messenger of God’s paternal aunt, Ṣafiyya bint ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, then came into the Prophet’s possession. She acted as midwife at the births of Fāṭima’s children and also at the birth of the Messenger of God’s son Ibrāhīm. She was present at the death and washing of Fāṭima, along with ʿAlī and Asmāʾ bint ʿUmays, the wife of Abū Bakr.
Imām Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, through ʿAlī b. Abī Rāfiʿ, narrates from Salma:
“When Fāṭima (may Allah be pleased with her) fell ill with her final illness, I nursed her. One day, while she was ill and ʿAlī had gone out to attend to some needs, Fāṭima said to me:
– Mother, prepare water for me so I may bathe. I prepared water for her, and she bathed in the most beautiful manner I have ever seen. Then she said:
– Mother, bring me my new clothes. I brought them, and she dressed. Then she said:
– Mother, spread my bed in the middle of the house. I did so. She lay down, turned toward the qibla, placed her hand under her cheek, and said:
– Mother, I am about to die. I have purified myself. Let no one uncover me.
After saying this, she died right there. Shortly after, ʿAlī came, and I informed him.” This is indeed a strange and unusual narration.
Another of the Messenger of God’s female slaves was Shīrīn. Some say her name was Shīrīn. She was the aunt of Ibrāhīm and the sister of Māriya al-Qibṭiyya. As previously mentioned, her real name was Jureyj b. Minā, and she was sent by the governor of Alexandria, Muqawqis, along with these two slave women, a eunuch named Maʾbūr, and a mule named Duldul as gifts to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) gave Shīrīn (or according to another narration, Sīrīn) to Ḥassān b. Thābit, and from their marriage a son named ʿAbd al-Raḥmān was born.
Another of the Messenger of God’s female slaves was ʿUnqūda Umm Malīḥ al-Ḥabashiyya. She was the slave of ʿĀʾisha. Her previous name was Inba, but the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) gave her the name ʿUnqūda.
Abū Nuʿaym narrated this. Some say her name was Ghāfira. Another of the Messenger of God’s female slaves was Farwa. She also nursed him. Farwa said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said to me:
“When you go to bed, recite Sūrat al-Kāfirūn, for it is a renunciation of shirk.” Ibn al-Athīr narrated this in “al-Ghāba.”
As for Fiddat al-Nūbiyya, Ibn al-Athīr stated in “al-Ghāba” that she was the slave of the Messenger of God’s daughter Fāṭima.
After relating Ibn ʿAbbās’s views on the verse, “They give food, despite their love for it, to the needy, the orphan, and the captive,” Ibn al-Athīr briefly said:
“Ḥasan and Ḥusayn fell ill. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) visited them, as did many Arabs. They said to ʿAlī:
– Will you not make a vow regarding this? ʿAlī said:
– If Allah heals them, I will fast for three days. Fāṭima said the same, and Fiddah also made a vow.
Allah granted Ḥasan and Ḥusayn recovery, and they fasted. ʿAlī borrowed three measures of barley from Shamʿūn al-Khaybarī. The first night, they ground one measure and made bread. At ifṭār, a beggar came to the door and said:
– Feed the poor so that Allah will feed you at the tables of Paradise. ʿAlī ordered that the food be given to the beggar, and they remained hungry.
The second night, they ground another measure and made bread. At ifṭār, another beggar came and said:
– Feed the orphan. They gave him the bread and remained hungry.
The third night, they ground the last measure and made bread. At ifṭār, a beggar came and said:
– Feed the captive. They gave him the bread and food, remaining hungry for three days and nights. Upon this, Allah revealed the following verses:
“Has there [not] come upon man a period of time when he was not a thing [even] mentioned? Indeed, We created man from a sperm-drop mixture that We may try him; and We made him hearing and seeing. Indeed, We guided him to the way, be he grateful or be he ungrateful. Indeed, We have prepared for the disbelievers chains and shackles and a blaze. Indeed, the righteous will drink from a cup [of wine] whose mixture is of Kāfūr, a spring of which the [righteous] servants of Allah will drink; they will make it gush forth in force and abundance. They [are those who] fulfill [their] vows and fear a Day whose evil will be widespread. And they give food in spite of love for it to the needy, the orphan, and the captive, [saying], ‘We feed you only for the countenance of Allah. We wish not from you reward or gratitude.’” (al-Insān 76:1–9)
This is a rejected (munkar) hadith. Some hadith scholars consider it fabricated (mawḍūʿ) due to its problematic wording. Also, this surah is Makkan, while Ḥasan and Ḥusayn were born in Medina. Allah knows best.
Among those who served the Messenger of God was Laylā, the slave of ʿĀʾisha. She asked the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him):
– O Messenger of God, when you leave the toilet and I enter right after you, I do not see anything, but I smell only the scent of musk.
In response, the Messenger of God said:
“The bodies of the community of prophets grow upon the spirits of the people of Paradise. The earth always consumes any impurity that comes from us.”
This was narrated by Abū ʿAbdillāh al-Madanī from Abū Nuʿaym, but Abū ʿAbdillāh al-Madanī is a narrator about whom little is known.
Another of the Messenger of God’s female slaves was Māriya al-Qibṭiyya, the mother of Ibrāhīm. We have discussed her among the Mothers of the Believers, i.e., the wives of the Messenger of God. Ibn al-Athīr distinguished between Māriya al-Qibṭiyya and Māriya Umm Rabāb, stating that the latter was also among the Messenger of God’s female slaves. The people of Basra have her hadith. ʿAbdullāh b. Ḥabīb narrated from Māriya: “One night, I bent down so that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) could step on my back and climb over a garden wall to escape the polytheists.”
Abū Bakr narrated from Māriya:
“I never touched anything softer than the hands of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him).”
Another of the Messenger of God’s female slaves was Maymūna bint Saʿd.
Imām Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal narrates from Maymūna:
“O Messenger of God, explain to us about Bayt al-Maqdis.”
– It is the place from which people spread out into the world and to which they will return. Go there and pray, for one prayer there is like a thousand prayers elsewhere.
– What if someone cannot go there?
– Let them send oil to be used in its lamps. Whoever sends a gift there is like one who prays there.”
Imām Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal also narrates from Maymūna bint Saʿd:
“The Messenger of God was asked about a child born of adultery. He replied:
‘There is no good in a child born of adultery. Two sandals with which I participate in jihad in the way of Allah are more beloved to me than freeing a child born of adultery.’”
Ḥāfiẓ Abū Yaʿlā al-Muṣilī, through Abū Bakr b. Abī Shayba, narrates from Maymūna, who served the Messenger of God:
“The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: A woman who leaves her family and walks, trailing her skirt to show off in another place, her action will be like darkness without light on the Day of Judgment...”
Another of the Messenger of God’s female slaves was Maymūna bint Abī Unaysa (or Anbasa?). Abū ʿAmr b. Mandah said so.
Abū Nuʿaym said: There is an error in the name of the above-mentioned slave; her real name is Maymūna bint Abī ʿĀṣib. Her hadith was narrated by Manjaʿ b. Muṣʿab Abū ʿAbdillāh al-ʿAbdī. According to this narration, a woman from the Huraish tribe came to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) and said to ʿĀʾisha:
– O ʿĀʾisha, help me. Tell me a supplication (dua) of the Messenger of God that will bring tranquility to my heart.
ʿĀʾisha said to her:
– Place your right hand over your heart, rub it, and say:
‘In the name of Allah. O Allah, heal me with Your own cure. Grant me Your own healing. Enrich me with Your own bounty, not with that of anyone else.’”
Rabīʿa, one of the narrators, said: I called that woman and saw that she had recovered.
Another of the Messenger of God’s female slaves was Umm Dumayra, the wife of Abū Duraeyra. We have explained her previously.
Another of the Messenger of God’s female slaves was Umm ʿAyyāsh. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) sent her with his daughter when he married her to ʿUthmān b. ʿAffān.
Abū’l-Qāsim al-Baghawī, through ʿIkrima, narrates from Umm ʿAyyāsh, the servant whom the Messenger of God sent with his daughter when she married ʿUthmān:
“In the morning, I would prepare and mix a date drink for ʿUthmān, and he would drink it in the evening. In the evening, I would prepare nabīdh for him, and he would drink it in the morning. One day he asked me:
– Do you add anything to this? I replied:
– Yes. He said:
– Do not do that again.” These were the female slaves of the Messenger of God.
Imām Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, through Wakīʿ, narrates from Sumāma b. Ḥazn:
“I asked ʿĀʾisha about the ruling on nabīdh. She said:
– Here is the servant of the Messenger of God. Ask her.
She pointed to an Abyssinian slave woman. The slave woman said to me:
– In the evening, I would prepare nabīdh for the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) in a vessel and cover its mouth. In the morning, he would drink from it.”
Muslim and al-Nasāʾī narrated this from Qāsim b. Faḍl.