Maymunah bint al-Harith al-Hilaliyyah ( ar, مَيْمُونَة ٱبْنَت ٱلْحَارِث ٱلْهِلَالِيَّة, Maymūnah ibnat al-Ḥārith al-Hilālīyah; ),
was a twelfth wife of
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 mon ...
. Her original name was Barrah ( ar, بَرَّة, link=no), but
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 mon ...
changed it to Maymunah, meaning "good tidings", as his marriage to her marked the first time in seven years when he could enter his hometown of
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 v ...
from
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 Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...
.
Family
Her father was Al-Harith ibn Hazn from the
Hilali tribe of Mecca. Her mother was
Hind bint Awf
Hind bint ʿAwf () was a mother-in-law twice of Muhammad. As the mother, mother-in-law and grandmother of several companions of Muhammad, she was known as the "grandest mother-in-law on earth". She was also known by the name Khawla.
Family
Hin ...
from the
Himyari 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 north and Oman to the northeast and ...
. Her full sister was
Lubaba the Elder. Her paternal half-sisters were Layla (Lubaba the Younger), Huzayla and Azza. Her maternal half-siblings were
Mahmiyah ibn Jaz'i al-Zubaydi,
Asma bint Umays
Asmāʾ bint ʿUmays ( ar, أَسْمَاء بِنْت عُمَيْس) was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. She is known for having married three companions of the Prophet: Ja'far ibn Abi Talib, Abu Bakr and Ali.
Family
She was a ...
(a wife of
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 ...
),
Salma bint Umays (a wife of
Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib) and Awn ibn Umays.
Ibn Kathir
Abū al-Fiḍā’ ‘Imād ad-Dīn Ismā‘īl ibn ‘Umar ibn Kathīr al-Qurashī al-Damishqī (Arabic: إسماعيل بن عمر بن كثير القرشي الدمشقي أبو الفداء عماد; – 1373), known as Ibn Kathīr (, was ...
also mentions a tradition that
Zaynab bint Khuzayma (a wife of Muhammad) was another maternal sister.
Marriage
She married
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 mon ...
in 629 in Sarif, about from Mecca, just after the
Lesser Pilgrimage.
She was in her late 30s when she married him.
Maymuna lived with Muhammad for three years until his death in 632.
Death
Maymuna's death date is controversial. According to Al-Tabari: "Maymuna died in the year 61 AH (680–681 CE) during the caliphate of
Yazid I
Yazid ibn Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan ( ar, يزيد بن معاوية بن أبي سفيان, Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya ibn ʾAbī Sufyān; 64611 November 683), commonly known as Yazid I, was the second caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate. He ruled from ...
. She was the last of the wives of the Prophet to die, and her age was then 80 or 81."
However, Al-Tabari asserts elsewhere that
Umm Salama
Hind bint Abi Umayya ( ar, هِنْد بِنْت أَبِي أُمَيَّة, Hind ʾibnat ʾAbī ʾUmayya, 580 or 596 – 680 or 683), better known as Umm Salama ( ar, أُمّ سَلَمَة, link=no) or Hind al-Makhzūmiyah ( ar, هِنْد ...
outlived Maymuna.
Ibn Hajar also cites a tradition implying that Maymuna predeceased
Aisha
Aisha ( ar, , translit=ʿĀʾisha bint Abī Bakr; , also , ; ) was Muhammad's third and youngest wife. In Islamic writings, her name is thus often prefixed by the title "Mother of the Believers" ( ar, links=no, , ʾumm al- muʾminīn), referr ...
: "We stood on the walls of Medina, looking out …
isha said 'By Allah! Maymuna is no more! She has gone, and you are left free to do whatever you like. She was the most pious of all of us and the most devoted to her relatives.'"
See also
*
Adnan
Adnan ( ar, عدنان, 'adnān) is the traditional ancestor of the Adnanite Arabs of Northern, Western, Eastern and Central Arabia, as opposed to the Qahtanite Arabs of Southern Arabia who descend from Qahtan. His ancestry can be traced back t ...
**
Adnanite
The Adnanites ( ar, عدنانيون) were a tribal confederation of the Ishmaelite Arabs, traces their lineage back to Ismail son of the Islamic prophet and patriarch Ibrahim and his wife Hajar through Adnan, who originate from the Hejaz. Th ...
Arabs
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
*
Family tree of Muhammad
This family tree is about the relatives of the Islamic prophet Muhammad known as a family member of the family of Hashim and the Qurayshs tribe which is ‘Adnani. "The ‘arabicised or arabicising Arabs’, on the contrary, are believed to be ...
**
Banu Hashim
)
, type = Qurayshi Arab clan
, image =
, alt =
, caption =
, nisba = al-Hashimi
, location = Mecca, Hejaz Middle East, North Africa, Horn of Africa
, descended = Hashim ibn Abd Manaf
, parent_tribe = ...
References
External links
Al Islam Dictionary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maymunah bint al-Harith
594 births
674 deaths
Women companions of the Prophet
Banu Hilal
Wives of Muhammad
Muslim female saints