Sumayya

Sumeyah ( ar, سُمَيَّة; ), was the first member of the ''Umma'' (community) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad to become a '' shahida'' (martyr), shortly before her husband Yasir ibn Amir was also martyred for his conversion to Islam. Her full name is said to be Sumayya bint Khabbat or Sumayya bint Khayyat. Her son was Ammar ibn Yasir.

Early life

She was a slave in the possession of Abu Hudhayfa ibn al-Mughira, a member of the Makhzum clan in Mecca.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, who was from the Malik clan of the Madh'hij tribe in Yemen. 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 both that Abu Hudhayfa died "before Islam" and 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, Abu Bakr, 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 Amr ibn Hisham, 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. Then, her son was made to stand in the hot sun to make him leave Islam. When Amr was killed in the Battle of Badr, Muhammad said to Ammar, "Allah has killed your mother's killer."

Al-Tabari mentions an alternative account of Sumayyah's life. He says she married a Byzantine slave named Azraq after Yasir's death. They had a son named Salamah and their bloodline eventually married into the Banu Umayya. 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 Sumayya is found in Ibn Ishaq's (died 761) biography of Muhammad, ''Sirat Rasul Allah'' ("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 and Tabari.

See also

* Khadija bint Khuwaylid
* 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