Sumayyah bint Khabbāṭ ( ar, سُمَيَّة ٱبْنَت خَبَّاط) or Sumayyah bint Khayyāṭ (; c. 550 – 615 CE / 72
BH – 7 BH), was the mother of
Ammar ibn Yasir and
first member of the ''
Ummah
' (; ar, أمة ) is an Arabic word meaning "community". It is distinguished from ' ( ), which means a nation with common ancestry or geography. Thus, it can be said to be a supra-national community with a common history.
It is a synonym for ' ...
'' (Community) of the Islamic
prophet Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monoth ...
to become a ''
shahid
''Shaheed'' ( , , ; pa, ਸ਼ਹੀਦ) denotes a martyr in Islam. The word is used frequently in the Quran in the generic sense of "witness" but only once in the sense of "martyr" (i.e. one who dies for his faith); ...
ah'' (female martyr).
Early life
She was a slave in the possession of
Abu Hudhaifah ibn al-Mughirah
Abu Hudhaifah ibn al-Mughirah (أبو حذيفة بن المغيرة) was a sahaba of Muhammad and the owner of Sumayyah bint Khabbat.
Biography Torturing his slaves
He was a chief leader from the Makhzum and was the owner of Sumayyah bint Khab ...
, a member of the
Makhzum clan in
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow ...
.
[Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari. ''Tarikh al-Rusul wa'l-Muluk''. Translated by Landau-Tasseron, E. (1998). ''Volume 39: Biographies of the Prophet's Companions and Their Successors'', pp. 29-30, 116-117. Albany: State University of New York Press.] Her master gave her in marriage to
Yasir ibn Amir
Yāsir ibn ʿĀmir ibn Mālik al-ʿAnsīy ( ar, يَاسِر ٱبْن عَامِر ٱبْن مَالِك ٱلْعَنْسِيّ) (sixth/seventh century C.E.) was an early companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He is the second martyr in Isla ...
, who was from the Malik clan of the
Madh'hij
Madhḥij ( ar, مَذْحِج) is a large Qahtanite Arab tribal confederation. It is located in south and central Arabia. This confederation participated in the early Muslim conquests and was a major factor in the conquest of the Persian empire ...
tribe in
Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
. After coming to Mecca to look for a lost brother, he had decided to settle there under Abu Hudhayfa's protection.
[ Sumayyah gave birth to their son Ammar c.566.][ Yasir also had two brothers, Hurth and Abdullah,][
At a later date, Abu Hudhayfa freed both Sumayyah and her son Ammar; but they remained his clients for the rest of his life.][ It is said that Abu Hudhayfa died "before Islam";][ but it is also said that he was "one of those who mocked the Prophet".][
]
Conversion to Islam
According to one tradition, Sumayyah was one of the first seven "to display Islam," the other six being Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...
, Abu Bakr
Abu Bakr Abdallah ibn Uthman Abi Quhafa (; – 23 August 634) was the senior companion and was, through his daughter Aisha, a father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, as well as the first caliph of Islam. He is known with the honor ...
, Bilal, Khabbab, Suhayb and her son Ammar.[ "To display Islam" might refer to something other than conversion since, according to another tradition, Ammar was not converted until after the Muslims had entered the house of al-Arqam "after thirty men".][ Yasir and his son Abdullah were also converted "on the rise of Islam,"] but Hurth had been killed by the Dil clan before 610.[
The Quraysh persecuted Muslims of low social rank.][Muhammad ibn Ishaq. ''Sirat Rasul Allah''. Translated by Guillaume, A. (1955). ''The Life of Muhammad''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ][ Sumayyah's family was vulnerable after the death of their patron, and it was other members of the Makhzum clan who tortured them to pressure them to abandon their faith.] On one occasion she was put inside a pitcher full of water and lifted so that she could not escape. She, Yasir and Ammar were also forced to stand in the sun in the heat of the day dressed in mail-coats.[
Although described as "a very old and frail woman," Sumayyah remained steadfast and refused to abandon Islam.][
]
Death
One evening Abu Jahl
ʿAmr ibn Hishām al-Makhzūmī ( ar, عمرو بن هشام المخزومي), (570 – 13 March 624), also known as Abu Jahl (lit. 'Father of Ignorance'), was one of the Meccan polytheist pagan leaders from the Quraysh known for his opposition ...
, also a member of the Makhzum clan, came to watch her standing there and he began to insult her verbally. Then he killed her by stabbing and impaling her with his spear.[When Abu Jahl was killed at Badr, Muhammad said to Ammar, "Allah has killed your mother's killer."][
Tabari mentions an alternative account of Sumayyah's life. He says she married a Byzantine slave named Azraq after Yasir's death. She bore him a son named Salamah and their bloodline eventually married into the ]Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
family. Tabari also notes some stories as a case of possible confusion between two Meccan women named Sumayyah.
Historical references
The earliest reference to the murder of Sumayyah is found in Ibn Ishaq's (died 761) biography of Muhammad, ''Siratu Rasulullah'' (''"Biography of the Messenger of God"'').[University of Wisconsin-Madison]
/ref> Her name ''Sumayyah'' is not explicitly mentioned in Ibn Ishaq; it is a deduction from the reference to her son as ''Ammar "son of" Sumayya''.[ However, she is named as ''Sumayyah'' in the accounts of ]Ibn Saad
Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Sa‘d ibn Manī‘ al-Baṣrī al-Hāshimī or simply Ibn Sa'd ( ar, ابن سعد) and nicknamed ''Scribe of Waqidi'' (''Katib al-Waqidi''), was a scholar and Arabian biographer. Ibn Sa'd was born in 784/785 C ...
[ and ]Tabari
( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari ...
.[
]
See also
* Khadija bint Khuwaylid
Khadijah bint Khuwaylid ( ar, خَدِيجَة بِنْت خُوَيْلِد, Khadīja bint Khuwaylid, 555 – November 619 CE) was the first wife and is considered to be the first follower of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Khadija was the da ...
* Halimah bint Abi Dhuayb
* Islamic perspective on the first martyr of mankind
* The martyrs of ''al-Ukhdud'' ("the Ditch", or a place near Najran)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sumayyah bint Khayyat
Women companions of the Prophet
Sahabah martyrs
550s births
615 deaths
Non-Arab companions of the Prophet