We do not know precisely
how the young Abyssinian girl ended up
for sale in Makkah. We do not know her
'roots', who her mother was, or her
father or her ancestors. There were many
like her, boys and girls, Arabs and
non-Arabs, who were captured and brought
to the slave market of the city to be
sold.
A terrible fate
awaited some who ended up in the hands
of cruel masters or mistresses who
exploited their labor to the full and
treated them with the utmost harsh ness.
A few in that inhuman
environment were rather more fortunate.
They were taken into the homes of more
gentle and caring people.
Barakah, the young
Abyssinian girl, was one of the more
fortunate ones. She was saved by the
generous and kind Abdullah, the son of
Abd al-Muttalib. 'She became the only
servant in his household and when he was
married, to the lady Aminah, she looked
after her affairs as well.
Two weeks after the
couple were married, according to
Barakah, Abdullah's father came to their
house and instructed his son to go with
a trading caravan that was leaving for
Syria. Aminah was deeply distressed and
cried:
"How strange! How
strange! How can my husband go on a
trading journey to Syria while I am yet
a bride and the traces of henna are
still on my hands."
Abdullah's departure
was heartbreaking. In her anguish,
Aminah fainted. Soon after he left,
Barakah said: "When I saw Aminah
unconscious, I shouted in distress and
pain: 'O my lady!' Aminah opened her
eyes and looked at me with tears
streaming down her face. Suppressing a
groan she said: "Take me to bed,
Barakah."
"Aminah stayed
bedridden for a long time. She spoke to
no one. Neither did she look at anyone
who visited her except Abd al-Muttalib,
that noble and gentle old man. "Two
months after the departure of Abdullah,
Aminah called me at dawn one morning
and, her face beaming with joy, she said
to me:
"O Barakah! I
have seen a strange dream."
"Something good, my lady," I
said.
"I saw lights
coming from my abdomen lighting up the
mountains, the hills
and the valleys around Makkah."
"Do you feel pregnant, my
lady?"
"Yes, Barakah,"
she replied. "But I do not feel any
discomfort as other women feel."
"You shall give birth to a blessed
child who will bring goodness," I
said.
So long as Abdullah
was away, Aminah remained sad and
melancholic. Barakah stayed at her side
trying to comfort her and make her
cheerful by talking to her and relating
stories. Aminah however became even more
distressed when Abd al-Muttalib came and
told her she had to leave her home and
go to the mountains as other Makkans had
done because of an impending attack on
the city by the ruler of Yemen, someone
called Abrahah. Aminah told him that she
was too grief-striken and weak to leave
for the mountains but insisted that
Abrahah could never enter Makkah and
destroy the Kabah because it was
protected by the Lord. Abd al-Muttalib
became very agitated but there was no
sign of fear on Aminah's face. Her
confidence that the Kabah would not be
harmed was well-founded. Abrahah's army
with an elephant in the vanguard was
destroyed before it could enter Makkah.
Day and night, Barakah
stayed beside Aminah. She said: "I
slept at the foot of her bed and heard
her groans at night as she called for
her absent husband. Her moans would
awaken me and I would try to comfort her
and give her courage."
The first part of the
caravan from Syria returned and was
joyously welcomed by the trading
families of Makkah. Barakah went
secretly to the house of Abd al-Muttalib
to find out about Abdullah but had no
news of him. She went back to Aminah but
did not tell her what she had seen or
heard in order not to distress her. The
entire caravan eventually returned but
not with Abdullah.
Later, the African
girl Barakah was at Abd al-Muttalib's
house when news came from Yathrib that
Abdullah had died. She said: "I
screamed when I heard the news. I don't
know what I did after that except that I
ran to Aminah's house shouting,
lamenting for the absent one who would
never return, lamenting for the beloved
one for whom we waited so long,
lamenting for the most beautiful youth
of Makkah, for Abdullah, the pride of
the Quraysh.
"When Aminah
heard the painful news, she fainted and
I stayed by her bedside while she was in
a state between life and death. There
was no one else but me in Aminah's
house. I nursed her and looked after her
during the day and through the long
nights until she gave birth to her
child, "Muhammad", on a night
in which the heavens were resplendent
with the light of God."
When Prophet Muhammad
was born, this African girl in Mecca was
the first to hold him in her arms. His
grandfather came and took him to the
Kabah and with all Makkah, celebrated
his birth. Barakah stayed with Aminah
while Muhammad was sent to the badiyah
with the lady Halimah who looked after
him in the bracing atmosphere of the
open desert. At the end of five years,
he was brought back to Makkah and Aminah
received him with tenderness and love
and Barakah welcomed him "with joy,
longing and admiration".
When Muhammad was six
years old, his mother decided to visit
the grave of her husband, Abdullah, in
Yathrib. Both Barakah and Abd al-Muttalib
tried to dissuade her. Aminah however
was determined. So one morning they set
off- Aminah, Muhammad and Barakah
huddled together in a small hawdaj
mounted on a large camel, part of a huge
caravan that was going to Syria. In
order to shield the tender child from
any pain and worry, Aminah did not tell
Muhammad that she was going to visit the
grave of his father.
The caravan went at a
brisk pace. Barakah tried to console
Aminah for her son's sake and much of
the time the boy Muhammad slept with his
arms around Barakah's neck.
The caravan took ten
days to reach Yathrib. The boy Muhammad
was left with his maternal uncles of the
Banu Najjar while Aminah went to visit
the grave of Abdullah. Each day for a
few weeks she stayed at the grave. She
was consumed by grief.
On the way back to
Makkah, Aminah became seriously ill with
fever. Halfway between Yathrib and
Makkah, at a place called al-Abwa, they
stopped. Aminah's health deteriorated
rapidly. One pitch dark night, she was
running a high temperature. The fever
had got to her head and she called out
to Barakah in a choking voice.
Barakah related:
"She whispered in my ear: 'O
Barakah, I shall depart from this world
shortly. I commend my son Muhammad to
your care. He lost his father while he
was in my abdomen. Here he is now,
losing his mother under his very eyes.
Be a mother to him, Barakah. And don't
ever leave him.'
"My heart was
shattered and I began to sob and wail.
The child was distressed by my wailing
and began to weep. He threw himself into
his mother's arms and held tightly onto
her neck. She gave one last moan and
then was forever silent."
Barakah wept. She wept
bitterly. With her own hands she dug a
grave in the sand and buried Aminah,
moistening the grave with whatever tears
were left in her heart. Barakah returned
with the orphan child to Makkah and
placed him in the care of his
grandfather. She stayed at his house to
look after him. When Abd al-Muttalib
died two years later, she went with the
child to the house of his uncle Abu
Talib and continued to look after his
needs until he was grown up and married
the lady Khadijah.
Barakah then stayed
with Muhammad and Khadijah in a house
belonging to Khadijah. "I never
left him and he never left me," she
said. One day Muhammad, may Allah bless
him and grant him peace, called out to
her and said: "Ya Ummah!" (He
always called her "Mother".)
"Now I am a married man, and you
are still unmarried. What do you think
if someone should come now and ask to
marry you?" Barakah looked at
Muhammad and said: "I shall never
leave you. Does a mother abandon her
son?" Muhammad smiled and kissed
her head. He looked at his wife Khadijah
and said to her: "This is Barakah.
This is my mother after my own mother.
She is the rest of my family."
Barakah looked at the
lady Khadijah who said to her: "Barakah,
you have sacrificed your youth for the
sake of Muhammad. Now he wants to pay
back some of his obligations to you. For
my sake and his, agree to be married
before old age overtakes you."
"Whom shall I
marry, my lady?" asked Barakah.
"There is here now Ubayd ibn Zayd
from the Khazraj tribe of Yathrib. He
has come to us seeking your hand in
marriage. For my sake, don't
refuse."
Barakah agreed. She
married Ubayd ibn Zayd and went with him
to Yathrib. There she gave birth to a
son whom she called Ayman and from that
time onwards people called her "Umm
Ayman" the mother of Ayman.
Her marriage however
did not last very long. Her husband died
and she returned once more to Makkah to
live with her "son" Muhammad
in the house of the lady Khadijah.
Living in the same household at the time
were Ali ibn Abi Talib, Hind (Khadijah's
daughter by her first husband), and Zayd
ibn Harithah.
Zayd was an Arab from
the tribe of Kalb who was captured as a
boy and brought to Makkah to be sold in
the slave market. He was bought by
Khadijah's nephew and put in her
service. In Khadijah's household, Zayd
became attached to Muhammad and devoted
himself to his service. Their
relationship was like that of a son to a
father. Indeed when Zayd's father came
to Makkah in search of him, Zayd was
given the choice by Muhammad of either
going with his father or staying with
him. Zayd's reply to his father was:
"I shall never
leave this man. He has treated me nobly,
as a father would treat his son. Not a
single day have I felt that I am a
slave. He has looked after me well. He
is kind and loving towards me and
strives for my enjoyment and happiness.
He is the most noble of men and the
greatest person in creation. How can I
leave him and go with you?...I shall
never leave him."
Later, in public
Muhammad proclaimed the freedom of Zayd.
However, Zayd continued to live with him
as part of his household and devoted
himself to his service.
When Muhammad was
blessed with prophethood, Barakah and
Zayd were among the first to believe in
the message he proclaimed. They bore
with the early Muslims the persecution
which the Quraysh meted out to them.
Barakah and Zayd
performed invaluable services to the
mission of the Prophet. They acted as
part of an intelligence service exposing
themselves to the persecution and
punishment of the Quraysh and risking
their lives to gain information on the
plans and conspiracies of the mushrikin.
One night the
mushrikun blocked off the roads leading
to the House of al-Arqam where the
Prophet gathered his companions
regularly to instruct them in the
teachings of Islam. Barakah had some
urgent information from Khadijah which
had to be conveyed to the Prophet. She
risked her life trying to reach the
House of al-Arqam. When she arrived and
conveyed the message to the Prophet, he
smiled and said to her:
"You are blessed,
Umm Ayman. Surely you have a place in
Paradise." When Umm Ayman left, the
Prophet looked at his companions and
asked: "Should one of you desire to
marry a woman from the people of
Paradise, let him marry Umm Ayman."
Ali the companions
remained silent and did not utter a
word. Umm Ayman was neither beautiful
nor attractive. She was by now about
fifty years old and looked rather frail.
Zayd ibn al-Harithah however came
forward and said:
"Messenger of
Allah, I shall marry Umm Ayman. By
Allah, she is better than women who have
grace and beauty."
Zayd and Umm Ayman
were married and were blessed with a son
whom they named Usamah. The Prophet, may
Allah bless him and grant him peace,
loved Usamah as his own son. Often he
played with him, kissed him and fed him
with his own hands. The Muslims would
say: "He is the beloved son of the
beloved." From an early age Usamah
distinguished himself in the service of
lslam, and was later given weighty
responsibilities by the Prophet.
When the Prophet
migrated to Yathrib, henceforth to be
known as al-Madinah, he left Umm Ayman
behind in Makkah to look after certain
special affairs in his household.
Eventually she migrated to Madinah on
her own. She made the long and difficult
journey through the desert and
mountainous terrain on foot. The heat
was killing and sandstorms obscured the
way but she persisted, borne along by
her deep love and attachment for
Muhammad, may God bless him and grant
him peace. When she reached Madinah, her
feet were sore and swollen and her face
was covered with sand and dust.
"Ya Umm Ayman! Ya
Ummi! (O Umm Ayman! O my mother!) Indeed
for you is a place in Paradise!"
exclaimed the Prophet when he saw her.
He wiped her face and eyes, massaged her
feet and rubbed her shoulders with his
kind and gentle hands.
At Madinah, Umm Ayman
played her full part in the affairs of
the Muslims. At Uhud she distributed
water to the thirsty and tended the
wounded. She accompanied the Prophet on
some expeditions, to Khaybar and Hunayn
for example.
Her son Ayman, a
devoted companion of the Prophet was
martyred at Hunayn in the eighth year
after the Hijrah. Barakah's husband,
Zayd, was killed at the Battle of Mutah
in Syria after a lifetime of
distinguished service to the Prophet and
Islam. Barakah at this time was about
seventy years old and spent much of her
time at home. The Prophet, accompanied
by Abu Bakr and Umar often visited her
and asked: "Ya Ummi! Are you
well?" and she would reply: "I
am well, O Messenger of Allah so long as
Islam is."
After the Prophet, may
Allah bless him and grant him peace, had
died, Barakah would often be found with
tears in her eyes. She was once asked,
"Why are you crying?" and she
replied: "By Allah, I knew that the
Messenger of Allah would die but I cry
now because the revelation from on high
has come to an end for us."
Barakah was unique in
that she was the only one who was so
close to the Prophet throughout his life
from birth till death. Her life was one
of selfless service in the Prophet's
household. She remained deeply devoted
to the person of the noble, gentle and
caring Prophet. Above all, her devotion
to the religion of Islam was strong and
unshakable. She died during the
caliphate of Uthman. Her roots were
unknown but her place in Paradise was
assured.
Sheikh Abdulfattah Abu-Abdullah Adelabu (Ph. D. Damas),
a West African Islamic Academic founded AWQAF Africa, of
which he's the first al Amir (i.e. President).
Sheikh Dr. Adelabu was studying Postgraduate Degrees in
Damascus early 1990's during when Syria reviewed its
national security after an �Oslo Accord'...
Syria like many other countries around the world
witnessed, during this period, the flood of refugees
from war troubled nations like Somalia, arrival of
people from Algeria during the brutal struggling between
the Mujahidun and the government, resettlement of the
Palestinians fleeing from sophisticated guns of the
Israelis as well as adventure of African migrants for
reasons uncountable�
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