Sayyida Maymuna
Mother of the believers Maymunah
(may Allah be pleased with her)
Maymunah’s (may Allah be pleased with her) Family
Father: Harith bin Hazam Bajira
Mother: Hind bint Awf ibn Zuhayr
Tribe: Bani Ghilaan
Maymunah’s (may Allah be pleased with her) was born in the year 593, 29 years before migration.[i]
In the eighth year of Hijra he married Maymuna the sister of Umm al-Fadl, the wife of al-’Abbas bin ‘Abd al-Muttalib. She was married to Mas’ud bin ‘Umar al-Thaqafi and Abu Rahm bin Abdul Uzza and who died in the 7th Hijra. He married her at the end of the pilgrimage [Umra al-qada]. The account of his marriage to her began when Maymuna (may Allah be pleased with her) was thirty six years of age and al-’Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) proposed to his nephew, our Master Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) on her behalf. He proposed to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) at her request and the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) agreed to marry her.
The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was 59 and Maymuna (may Allah be pleased with her) was 36.[ii]
Maymunah (may Allah be pleased with her) also came from a very powerful and headstrong clan from Najd and was the sister of the wife of their chief. It was this clan which had brutally murdered seventy members of Islamic missionary deputation. The Messenger of Allah’s (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) marriage with Maymunah (may Allah be pleased with her) changed the whole atmosphere and Najd accepted Madinan authority under the leadership of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). Maymunah’s (may Allah be pleased with her) many other sisters were also married to prominent chieftains of the clans and they too now became relatives of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace).
Islâm also allows a case where a man marries a woman who presents herself for marriage as in the case of Maymunah (may Allah be pleased with her). Maymunah (may Allah be pleased with her) voluntarily presented herself to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and thus became one of his wives.
She has narrated 76 traditions from the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) from which 7 are in the Sahih of Imam Bukhari and Muslim.
She was the last wife the Messenger of Allah (may Allah be pleased with her) married.
“Thereafter other women are not allowed for you…”[iii]
Historians are divided regarding the year she passed away, though 51 AH is famously known as the year of her death, which took place at Sarif – the very place where she had become a wife of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). Ibn Sa’d reports from Waaqdi that the year of her demise was 61 AH, whilst ibn Is’haaq states that it occurred in 63 AH.
Her nephew ‘Abd-Allah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) was present at the time of her passing away and was also the individual who performed her funeral prayer and laid her in her grave.[iv]
[i] Azwaj-e-Mutahrat, p. 101
[ii] Zarqani; Vol: 3; Page: 251
[iii] Surah Ahzab: Surah No: 33; Verse: 52.
[iv] Zarqani, Vol. 3, Pg. 253