Abu Sufyan ibn Harb could
not conceive of anyone among the Quraysh
who would dare challenge his authority
or go against his orders. He was after
all, the sayyid or chieftain of Makkah
who had to be obeyed and followed.
His daughter, Ramlah,
known as Umm Habibah, however dared to
challenge his authority when she
rejected the deities of the Quraysh and
their idolatrous ways. Together with her
husband, Ubaydullah ibn Jahsh, she put
her faith in Allah alone and accepted
the message of His prophet, Muhammad ibn
Abdullah.
Abu Sufyan tried with
all the power and force at his disposal
to bring back his daughter and her
husband to his religion and the religion
of their forefathers. But he did not
succeed. The faith which was embedded in
the heart of Ramlah was too strong to be
uprooted by the hurricanes of Abu
Sufyans fury.
Abu Sufyan remained
deeply worried and concerned by his
daughter's acceptance of Islam. He did
not know how to face the Quraysh after
she had gone against his will and he was
clearly powerless to prevent her from
following Muhammad. When the Quraysh
realized though that Abu Sufyan himself
was enraged by Ramlah and her husband,
they were emboldened to treat them
harshly. They unleashed the full fury of
their persecution against them to such a
degree that life in Makkah became
unbearable.
In the fifth year of
his mission, the Prophet, peace be on
him, gave permission to the Muslims to
migrate to Abyssinia. Ramlah, her little
daughter Habibah, and her husband were
among those who left.
Abu Sufyan and the
Quraysh leaders found it difficult to
accept that a group of Muslims had
slipped out of their net of persecution
and was enjoying the freedom to hold
their beliefs and practice their
religion in the land of the Negus. They
therefore send messengers to the Negus
to seek their extradition. The
messengers tried to poison the mind of
the Negus against the Muslims but after
examining the Muslims beliefs and
listening to the Quran being recited,
the Negus concluded: "What has been
revealed to your Prophet Muhammad and
what Jesus the son of Mary preached came
from the same source."
The Negus himself
announced his faith in the one true God
and his acceptance of the prophethood of
Muhammad, peace be on him. He also
announced his determination to protect
the Muslim muhajirin.
The long journey on
the road of hardship and tribulation had
finally led to the oasis of serenity. So
Umm Habibah felt. But she did not know
that the new-found freedom and sense of
peace were later to be shattered. She
was to be put through a test of the most
severe and harrowing kind.
One night, it is
related, as Umm Habibah was asleep she
had a vision in which she saw her
husband in the midst of a fathomless
ocean covered by wave upon wave of
darkness. He was in a most perilous
situation. She woke up, frightened. But
she did not wish to tell her husband or
anyone else what she had seen.
The day after that
ominous night was not yet through when
Ubaydallah ibn Jahsh announced his
rejection of Islam and his acceptance of
Christianity. What a terrible blow!
Ramlah's sense of peace was shattered.
She did not expect this of her husband
who presented her forthwith with the
choice of a divorce or of accepting
Christianity. Umm Habibah had three
options before her. She could either
remain with her husband and accept his
call to become a Christian in which case
she also would commit apostasy and - God
forbid - deserve ignominy in this world
and punishment in the hereafter. This
was something she resolved she would
never do even if she were subjected to
the most horrible torture. Or, she could
return to her father's house in Makkah -
but she knew he remained a citadel of
shirk and she would be forced to live
under him, subdued and suppressing her
faith. Or, she could stay alone in the
land of the Negus as a displaced
fugitive - without country, without
family and without a supporter.
She made the choice
that she considered was the most
pleasing to God. She made up her mind to
stay in Abyssinia until such time as God
granted her relief. She divorced her
husband who lived only a short while
after becoming a Christian. He had given
himself over to frequenting wine
merchants and consuming alcohol, the
"mother of evils". This
undoubtedly helped to destroy him.
Umm Habibah stayed in
Abyssinia for about ten years. Towards
the end of this time, relief and
happiness came. It came from an
unexpected quarter.
One morning bright and
early, there was a loud knocking on her
door. It was Abrahah, the special
maid-servant of the Negus. Abrahah was
beaming with joy as she greeted Umm
Habibah and said: "The Negus sends
his greetings and says to you that
Muhammad, the Messenger of God, wants
you to marry him and that he has sent a
letter in which he has appointed him as
his wakil to contract the marriage
between you and him. If you agree, you
are to appoint a wakil to act on your
behalf."
Umm Habibah was in the
clouds with happiness. She shouted to
herself: "God has given you glad
tidings. God has given you glad
tidings." She took off her jewelry-
her necklace and bracelets - and gave
them to Abrahah. She took off her rings
too and gave them to her. And indeed if
she had possessed all the treasures of
the world, she would have given them to
Abrahah at that moment of sheer joy.
Finally she said to Abrahah: "I
appoint Khalid ibn Said ibn al-Aas to
act as wakil on my behalf for he is the
closest person to me."
In the palace of the
Negus, set in the midst of beautiful
gardens and luxuriant vegetation and in
one of the lavishly decorated,
sumptuously furnished and brightly lit
halls, the group of Muslims living in
Abyssinia gathered. They included Jafar
ibn Abi Talib, Khalid ibn Said, Abdullah
ibn Hudhafah as-Sahmi and others. They
had gathered to witness the conclusion
of the marriage contract between Umm
Habibah, the daughter of Abu Sufyan, and
Muhammad, the Messenger of God. When the
marriage was finalized, the Negus
addressed the gathering: "I praise
God, the Holy, and I declare that there
is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is
His Servant and His Messenger and that
He gave the good tidings to Jesus the
son of Mary.
"The Messenger of
God, peace be on him, has requested me
to conclude the marriage contract
between him and Umm Habibah the daughter
of Abu Sufyan. I agreed to do what he
requested and on his behalf I give her a
mahr or dowry of four hundred gold
dinars." He handed over the amount
to Khalid ibn Said who stood up and
said: "All praise is due to God. I
praise Him and seek His help and
forgiveness and I turn to Him in
repentance. I declare that Muhammad is
His servant and His Messenger whom He
has sent with the religion of guidance
and truth so that it might prevail over
all other forms of religion even if the
disbelievers were to dislike this.
"I have agreed to
do what the Prophet, peace be upon him,
has requested and acted as the wakil on
behalf of Umm Habibah, the daughter of
Abu Sufyan. May God bless His Messenger
and his wife.
"Congratulations
to Umm Habibah on account of the
goodness which God has ordained for
her."
Khalid took the mahr
and handed it over to Umm Habibah. The
Sahabah thereupon got up and prepared to
leave but the Negus said to them:
"Sit down for it is the practice of
the Prophets to serve food at
marriages."
There was general
rejoicing at the court of the Negus as
the guests sat down again to eat and
celebrate the joyous occasion. Umm
Habibah especially could hardly believe
her good fortune and she later described
how she was eager to share her
happiness. She said: "When I
received the money as mahr, I sent fifty
mithqals of gold to Abrahah who had
brought me the good news and I said to
her: 'I gave you what I did when you
gave me the good news because at that
time I did not have any money.'
"Shortly
afterwards, Abrahah came to me and
returned the gold. She also produced a
case which contained the necklace I had
given to her. She returned that to me
and said: 'The King has instructed me
not to take anything from you and he his
commanded the women in his household to
present you with gifts of perfume.'
"On the following
day, she brought me ambergris, safron
and aloes and said: 'I have a favor to
ask of you.' 'What is it?' I asked. 'I
have accepted Islam ,' she said, 'and
now follow the religion of Muhammad.
Convey to him my salutation of peace and
let him know that I believe in Allah and
His Prophet. Please don't forget.' She
then helped me to get ready for my
journey to the Prophet.
"When I met the
Prophet, peace be on him, I told him all
about the arrangements that were made
for the marriage and about my
relationship with Abrahah. I told him
she had become a Muslim and conveyed to
him her greetings of peace. He was
filled with joy at the news and said: 'Wa
alayha as-salam wa rahmatullahi was
barakatuhu and on her be peace and the
mercy and blessings of God. "
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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