Al-Nahdiah (النهضة) was a
companion 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 mo ...
.
Other transliterations include Nadia, An-Nahdiyah or Al Nahdiah ( ar, النهدية). 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, 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 ...
. Her mother, Umayma, was from the
Quraysh. Umayma's father, Abdullah, was from the
Taym, the same clan as
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 ...
; and her mother, Ruqayqa bint Khuwaylid, was a sister of
Khadija
Khadija, Khadeeja or Khadijah ( ar, خديجة, Khadīja) is an Arabic feminine given name, the name of Khadija bint Khuwaylid, first wife of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. In 1995, it was one of the three most popular Arabic feminine names in t ...
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
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 ...
's account. However,
Ibn Ishaq 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. 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 permanent ...
to
Medina
Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the ...
.
See also
*
List of non-Arab Sahaba
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
*
Sunni view of the Sahaba
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Al-Nahdiah
Women companions of the Prophet
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
Torture victims
Arabian slaves and freedmen