Al-Nahdiah (النهضة) was a
companion of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad
Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
.
Other transliterations include Nadia, An-Nahdiyah or Al Nahdiah (). This name indicates her tribe (Nahd); her personal name seems to have been Hakima.
[Ismail ibn Umar ibn Kathir. ''Al-Sira al-Nabawiyya''. Translated by Le Gassick, T. (2000). ''The Life of the Prophet Muhammad'', vol. 4 p. 462. Reading, U.K.: Garnet Publishing.]
Biography
Family
Her father was Habib ibn Kuwayb, from the Thaqif tribe, who was considered a foreigner in
Mecca
Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...
. Her mother, Umayma, was from the
Quraysh
The Quraysh () are an Tribes of Arabia, Arab tribe who controlled Mecca before the rise of Islam. Their members were divided into ten main clans, most notably including the Banu Hashim, into which Islam's founding prophet Muhammad was born. By ...
. Umayma's father, Abdullah, was from the
Taym, the same clan as
Abu Bakr
Abd Allah ibn Abi Quhafa (23 August 634), better known by his ''Kunya (Arabic), kunya'' Abu Bakr, was a senior Sahaba, companion, the closest friend, and father-in-law of Muhammad. He served as the first caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, ruli ...
; and her mother, Ruqayqa bint Khuwaylid, was a sister of
Khadija and a member of the
Asad clan.
[Muhammad ibn Saad. ''Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir'' vol. 8. Translated by Bewley, A. (1995). ''The Women of Madina'', p. 180. London: Ta-Ha Publishers.]
Al-Nahdiah had a daughter, whose father is unnamed.
[Muhammad ibn Ishaq. ''Sirat Rasul Allah''. Translated by Guillaume, A. (1955). ''The Life of Muhammad'', pp. 143-144. Oxford: Oxford University Press.] It is sometimes asserted that Al-Nahdiah's daughter was named
Umm Umays. This is due to the ambiguous wording of
Ibn Saad's account. However,
Ibn Ishaq
Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar al-Muttalibi (; – , known simply as Ibn Ishaq, was an 8th-century Muslim historian and hagiographer who collected oral traditions that formed the basis of an important biography of the Islamic proph ...
makes it clear that Umm Umays and Al-Nahdiah's daughter were two different people.
Slavery
It is not known how Al-Nahdiah and her daughter became slaves. They were in the service of a woman of the
Abdal-Dar clan of the Quraysh.
Al-Nahdiah and her friends
Umm Umays and
Zunnira were among the earliest converts to
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
. When the lower-class Muslims were persecuted for their faith in the period 614–616, these three slaves were among those who were tortured.
One day Al-Nahdiah and her daughter were instructed to grind some flour. Their mistress was saying, "By Allah, I shall never set you free," just as Abu Bakr was passing. He immediately said, "Take back that oath." The woman replied: "I take it back. You corrupted them, so you can set them free." They agreed to a price, and Abu Bakr declared: "I will take them, and they are manumitted. Return her flour to her!" Al-Nahdiah responded, "Shouldn't we finish grinding it first?" Although not legally obliged, they completed the task before following Abu Bakr.
Later life
Al-Nahdiah and her mother Umayma joined the general
emigration
Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...
to
Medina
Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...
.
See also
*
List of non-Arab Sahaba
*
Sunni view of the Sahaba
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Al-Nahdiah
Women companions of the Prophet
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
Torture victims
7th-century Arab slaves