Umm Salama bint Yaʿqūb al-Makhzūmī () was the principal wife of first

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 C ...

caliph

al-Saffah Abu al-ʿAbbās Abd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-ʿAbbās (‎; 721/722 – 8 June 754), known by his laqab, ''laqab'' al-Saffah (), was the first caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate, one of the longest and most impor ...

, the founder of

Abbasid dynasty The Abbasid dynasty or Abbasids () were an Arab dynasty that ruled the Abbasid Caliphate between 750 and 1258. They were from the Qurayshi Hashimid clan of Banu Abbas, descended from Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib. The Abbasid Caliphate is divid ...

. Umm Salama was the only woman in the Caliphate's history who had relation through marriage with both Caliphal dynasties; Umayyads and

Abbasids The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes i ...

Ancestry

Umm Salama bint Ya'qub ibn Salama ibn Abd Allah ibn al-Walid, was a member of the aristocratic

Banu Makhzum The Banu Makhzum () was one of the wealthy clans of the Quraysh (tribe), Quraysh. They are regarded as being among the three most powerful and influential clans in Mecca before the advent of Islam, the other two being the Banu Hashim (the tribe of ...

clan of 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 ...

tribe and a fourth-generation descendant of

al-Walid ibn al-Walid Al-Walid ibn al-Walid ibn al-Mughira () was an early companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Al-Walid belonged to the Banu Makhzum clan of the Quraysh tribe of Mecca and was a brother of the prominent Muslim commander Khalid ibn al-Walid. He fo ...

(the brother of

Khalid ibn al-Walid Khalid ibn al-Walid ibn al-Mughira al-Makhzumi (; died 642) was a 7th-century Arabs, Arab military commander. He initially led campaigns against Muhammad on behalf of the Quraysh. He later became a Muslim and spent the remainder of his career ...

). Her father was Ya'qub ibn Salama, the brother of

Ayyub ibn Salama Ayyub ibn Salama ibn Abd Allah ibn al-Walid ibn al-Walid ibn al-Mughira al-Makhzumi () was a notable of Medina in the late Umayyad and early Abbasid period. He belonged to a wealthy family of the locally prominent Banu Makhzum clan of the Quraysh. ...

. Her father and uncle were prominent members of the Makhzum.

Biography

Umm Salama spent her early life 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 ...

and

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, ...

. She married the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...

prince

Abd al-Aziz Abd al-Aziz (, DIN 31635, DMG: ''ʽAbd al-ʽAzīz''), frequently also transliterated Abdul-Aziz, is a male Arabic Muslim given name and, in modern usage, surname. It is built from the words ''Abd (Arabic), ʽAbd'', the Arabic definite article and ...

, a son of Caliph

al-Walid I Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (; – 23 February 715), commonly known as al-Walid I (), was the sixth Umayyad caliph, ruling from October 705 until his death in 715. He was the eldest son of his predecessor, Caliph Abd al-Malik (). As ...

(), but he died in 728 or 729. She afterward married the Umayyad prince

Maslama Maslama or Maslamah (Arabic: مَسْلَمة ''maslamah'') is an Arabic male given name and sometimes female, meaning "peace, safety and security from every calamity, disease, evil, misfortune, ordeal, pestilence, damage, harm, disaster, injury, a ...

, a son of Caliph

Hisham Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (; 6 February 743) was the tenth Umayyad caliph, ruling from 724 until his death in 743. Early life Hisham was born in Damascus, the administrative capital of the Umayyad Caliphate, in AH 72 (691–692 CE). Hi ...

(), and he died in the 740s. She had her son Sa'id from Maslama. Sa'id became an oral transmitter of historical tradition in the early

period. After Maslama's death, Umm Salama married the first

caliph

(). Al-Saffah married her before becoming the caliph. He admired her considerably and did not have other wives as was the usual case among the caliphs. He consulted with her until he assumed the caliphate. With al-Saffah, she had a son, Muhammad, and a daughter, Rayta. In 761, Caliph

al-Mahdi Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Manṣūr (; 744 or 745 – 785), better known by his regnal name al-Mahdī (, "He who is guided by God"), was the third Abbasid Caliph who reigned from 775 to his death in 785. He succeeded his ...

married Rayta as his first wife after his return from

Khurasan KhorasanDabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 (; , ) is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plateau in West Asia, West and Central Asia that encompasses wes ...

. Thus, she was also the mother-in-law of al-Mahdi. After al-Saffah's death in 754, she probably married another Abbasid member.

Family

Ya'qub ibn Salama's daughter Umm Salama, he had familial ties with Caliph Hisham's son

and the first Abbasid caliph,

, both of whom were married at one point to Umm Salama and had children from her. Their daughter Rayta married the third Abbasid caliph al-Mahdi and gave birth to his sons Ubaydallah and Ali.

References

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Umm Salama bint Ya'qub al-Makhzumi 8th-century births 8th-century deaths Women from the Umayyad Caliphate 8th-century women from the Abbasid Caliphate Wives of Abbasid caliphs 8th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate Arab princesses 8th-century Arab people Banu Makhzum

Ancestry

Biography

Family

See also

References

Sources