Rayḥānah bint Zayd ( ar, ريحانة بنت زيد) was a Jewish woman from the

Banu Nadir The Banu Nadir ( ar, بَنُو ٱلنَّضِير, he, בני נצ'יר) were a Jewish Arab tribe which lived in northern Arabia at the oasis of Medina until the 7th century. The tribe refused to convert to Islam as Muhammad had ordered it t ...

tribe, who became a concubine of the

Islamic prophet Prophets in Islam ( ar, الأنبياء في الإسلام, translit=al-ʾAnbiyāʾ fī al-ʾIslām) are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God's message on Earth and to serve as models of ideal human behaviour. Some prophets ar ...

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 ...

, after the Incident of Banu Qurayza in 627 CE (5 AH).Rodinson, ''Muhammad: Prophet of Islam'', p. 213.
online
. She is considered by some Muslims as being one of

Muhammad's wives Thirteen women were married to the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Muslims use the term ''Umm al-Mu'minin'' ( ar, أم ٱلْمُؤْمِنِين‎; meaning 'Mother of the Believers') prominently before or after referring to them as a sign of respect ...

Biography

Rayhana was born into the Banu Nadir tribe, and became part of the

Banu Qurayza The Banu Qurayza ( ar, بنو قريظة, he, בני קוריט'ה; alternate spellings include Quraiza, Qurayzah, Quraytha, and the archaic Koreiza) were a Jewish tribe which lived in northern Arabia, at the oasis of Yathrib (now known as ...

tribe upon her marriage.

Ibn Sa'd 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 ...

wrote that Rayhana went on to be manumitted and subsequently married to Muhammad upon her conversion to Islam.

Al-Tha'labi Al-Tha''ʿ''labi (''Abū Isḥāḳ Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Nīsābūrī al-Thaʿlabī'' ; died November 1035) was an eleventh-century Islamic scholar of Persian origin. He was accorded a high rank by Sunni scholars. In ''Tabaqa ...

agreed that she became one of Muhammad's wives and cited evidence that he paid a

mahr In Islam, a mahr (in ar, مهر; fa, مهريه; tr, mehir; sw, mahari; also transliterated ''mehr'', ''meher'', ''mehrieh'', or ''mahriyeh'') is the obligation, in the form of money or possessions paid by the groom, to the bride at the time ...

for her. Ibn Hajar makes reference to Muhammad giving Rayhana a home upon their marriage. Antonie Wessels suggested that Muhammad married Rayhana for political reasons due to her dual affiliation with both the Banu Nadir and Banu Qurayza tribes, while Lesley Hazleton felt it was evidence of Muhammad creating alliances. Conversely, Barakat Ahmad felt such rationale to support the notion of Rayhana and Muhammad's marriage was "meaningless" due to the annihilation of both tribes by Muhammad's forces. Similar to

Maria al-Qibtiyya (), better known as or ( ar, مارية القبطية), or Mary the Copt, died 637, was an Egyptian woman who, along with her sister Sirin, was sent to the Islamic prophet Muhammad in 628 as a gift by Al-Muqawqis, a Christian governor of Alex ...

, there is not universal consensus among Islamic scholars as to whether Rayhana was officially one of Muhammad's wives. Hafiz ibn Minda and

Shibli Nomani Shibli Nomani ( ur, – ; 3 June 1857 – 18 November 1914) was an Islamic scholar from the Indian subcontinent during the British Raj. He was born at Bindwal in Azamgarh district of present-day Uttar Pradesh.Nomani, Shibli (1979). ''The Life of the Prophet''. Vol. II, pg. 125–6 Rayhana died in 631, 11 days after ''hajj'', and was buried at the

Al-Baqi Cemetery ''Jannat al-Baqīʿ'' ( ar, ٱلْبَقِيْع, "The Baqi'") is the oldest and the first Islamic cemetery of Medina in the Hejazi region of present-day Saudi Arabia. It is located to the southeast of the Prophet's Mosque, which contains the gr ...

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, ...

along with other wives of Muhammad. Translated by Muhammad Aslam Qasmi.

References

{{Authority control Banu Nadir 7th-century Arabian Jews Wives of Muhammad 7th-century women Converts to Islam from Judaism Jewish Saudi Arabian history Arabian slaves and freedmen Medieval slaves Muslim female saints Burials at Jannat al-Baqī Slave concubines

Biography

See also

References