Umm Hakim Bint Harith رضي الله عنه.
Embodied the Sheer Strength of Women.
In the battle of Uhud, she accompanied Ikrimah and other Quraysh of Makkah who fought against the Muslims. She, along with other women, beat drums as they led the group of Quraysh women onto the battlefield.
In 630 CE, when the Muslims conquered Makkah, Umm Hakim converted to Islam along with the other Quraysh. Subsequently, Umm Hakim convinced her husband Ikrima to accept Islam.
She is Umm Hakim Bint Al-Harith Ibn Hisham Ibn Al-Mughirah رضي الله عنه.. She is from the tribe of Qureish, the sect of Bani Makhzoom. Her mother is Fatimeh Bint Al-Weleed Ibn Al-Mugheereh, sister of Khalid Ibn Al-Waleed رضي الله عنه.
Umm Hakim رضي الله عنه.embraced Islam on the day of the Conquest of Makkah. Narrated Ibn Is-haq, narrated Ibn Shihab, narrated Urwa said: “Umm Hakim رضي الله عنه. Bint Al-Harith was married to Ikrimah Ibn Abi Jahl, and Fakhitah Bint Al-Waleed Ibn Al-Mugheereh was married to Sefwan Ibn Umayyah, so both ladies accepted Islam.
We are sharing stories of some of our favorite Sahabiyyat رضي الله عنه. female companions of Rasulullahﷺ. These women are the foundations of our histories, and their lives are a multitude of lessons for us all.
Umm Hakim bint Harith رضي الله عنه, a sahabbiya (رضي الله عنه) during the time of the
Rasulullahﷺ was the embodiment of this strength.
Umm, Hakim رضي الله عنه accepted Islam on the day of the conquest of Makkah after having been present at the battle of Uhud opposite of the Muslims. She had been a part of a group of women beating drums to lead the soldiers of Quraysh into battle. Yet, she was able to recognize her ignorance, unlearn her previous biases, and change her beliefs with grace when she accepted Islam and guided her husband to Islam as well. Not long after, her husband, brother, and father were all martyred in the battle of Yarmouk.
The devastating loss of three of the closest people in her life did not shake her faith and hope. She was committed to her Islam and her Lord. Eventually, she agreed to remarry to Umayyad commander Khalid ibn Saidرضي الله عنه
On the day of their wedding, as they celebrated with their guests, they were attacked by Byzantine soldiers. Glasses shattered to the floor, forks were abandoned mid-bite and all mirth was forgotten as the guests began to fend off the attackers. As fighting ensued, Umm Hakim رضي الله عنه watched her second husband be martyred by the Byzantines in front of her very eyes. She clutched her wedding dress in her arms, dislodged the pole of the wedding tent, and joined the fighting. With just the pole, despair, and sheer strength, she slayed seven Byzantine men.
Umm Hakim رضي الله عنه would go on to later marry Sayidina Umar ibn al Khatta رضي
الله عنهb.
Although not many of us (certainly not myself) have had to take up arms against those who murdered our husband on the day of our wedding after having mourned our father, brother, and a prior husband, Many of us have had to exert great physical strength despite emotional distress and many of us have sought to educate ourselves to unlearn previous ignorant beliefs.
Women must be unconditionally present for their children without having the time to process their own emotional trauma. Women must fight every single day to be perceived as anything more than pretty vessels. Women must exist in societies in which we work harder and make less. Women must experience those who expect us to minimize our strength into meekness to fit cultural norms. Women must constantly educate themselves on the intersections between our struggle as women and the other identities of ourselves and those around us.
The people I most admire and am most impressed with are always women, and the trait of theirs I aspire to espouse is their sheer emotional and physical strength in the face of discrimination, inequality, violation, injustice – or even of a Byzantine army.
عن عبد الله بن الزبير، قال: ( لما كان يَوْمُ فَتْحِ مَكَّةَ هرب عكرمة بن أبي جهل، وكانت امرأته أم حكيم بنت الحارث بن هشام امرأة عاقلة أسلمت، ثم سألت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم الأمان لزوجها، فأمرها بِرَدِّهِ، فخرجت في طلبه وقالت له: جئتك من عند أوصل الناس وأبر الناس وخير الناس وقد استأمنت لك فَأَمَّنَكَ، فرجع معها، فلما دنا من مكة، قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم لأصحابه: ” ” يَأْتِيَكُمْ عِكْرِمَةُ بْنُ أَبِي جَهْلٍ مُؤْمِنًا مُهَاجِرًا، فَلا تَسُبُّوا أَبَاهُ، فَإِنَّ سَبَّ الْمَيِّتِ يُؤْذِي الْحَيَّ وَلا يَبْلُغُ الْمَيِّتَ“، فلما بلغ باب رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم استبشر ووثب له رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم قائما على رجليه فرحا بقدومه). رواه الحاكم.
Narrated Abdul-Allah Ibn Az-Zubair said: “On the day of the Conquest of Makkah,
Umm Hakim Bint Al-Harith Ibn Hishamرضي الله عنه, a woman of sound judgment, embraced Islam while her husband Ikrimah Ibn Abi Jahl fled. She asked Rasulullahﷺ- for amnesty for her husband, and he granted her request asking her to bring him back. She set out searching for her husband. When she found him, she said: ‘I have come to you from the best of people in maintaining his kinship, in kindness and in righteousness. And I have asked amnesty for you, and he has granted it to you.’ So Ikrimah returned with her. When they came close to Makkah,
Muhammad Rasulullahﷺ said to his companions: Ikrimah Ibn Abi Jahl is coming to you as a migrant believer, so do not abuse his father for abusing the dead harms the living while not reaching the dead person.’ When Ikrimah reached the door of Rasulullahﷺ, Rasulullahﷺ- got up to receive him, happy for his return.”
Umm Hakim’s Courage and
Fortitude:
ذكر ابن حجر العسقلاني في الإصابة في تمييز الصحابة، عن أبي عمر، قال: ( حضرت أم حكيم بنت الحارث بن هشام بن المغيرة المخزومية زوج عكرمة بن أبي جهل يومَ أحد وهي كافرة ثم أسلمت في الفتح، وكان زوجها فر إلى اليمن فتوجهت إليه بإذن من النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم فحضر معها وأسلم، ثم خرجت معه إلى غزوة الروم فاستشهد. فتزوجها خالد بن سعيد بن العاص، فلما كانت وقعة مرج الصفر أراد خالد أن يدخل بها، فقالت: لو تأخرت حتى يهزم الله هذه الجموع، فقال: إن نفسي تحدثني أني أقتل، قالت: فدونك، فأعرس بها عند القنطرة، فعرفت بها بعد ذلك فقيل لها: قنطرة أم حكيم، ثم أصبح فأولم عليها فما فرغوا من الطعام حتى وافتهم الروم ووقع القتال، فاستشهد خالد وشدت أم حكيم عليها ثيابها وتبدت وإن عليها أثر الخلوق فاقتتلوا على النهر، فقاتلت أم حكيم يومئذ فقتلت بعمود الفسطاط الذي أعرس بها خالد فيه سبعة من الروم).
Narrated Abu Omar said: “Umm Hakim
Bint Al-Harith Ibn Hisham Ibn Al-Mughireh Al-Mekhzoomiyyeh, the wife of Ikrimah
Ibn Jehl, witnessed the battle of Uhud as a disbeliever.
She then embraced Islam on the
day of the Conquest of Makkah. Her husband, Ikrimah, had fled
to Yemen so she went after him after securing amnesty for him from the
-Prophet's prayer and peace be upon him. Ikrimah returned with her
and became a Muslim.
Then later she witnessed
with him the battle of the Romans where he was martyred. After
Ikrimah’s death, Khalid Ibn Se’eed Ibn Al-‘Aas married Umm Hakim just before
the battle of Merej Al-Sifr. He wanted to share the bed with her,
but she said: ‘If you could wait until Allah brings defeat to the
enemy.’ He said: ‘I feel as if I will be killed in this
battle.’ So she allowed him, and he consummated the marriage
near a local bridge, that was later known as ‘the Bridge of Umm Hakim’.
The next day, Khalid Ibn Sa’eed invited people to the bridal feast.
When they finished
eating, the Romans reached their positions and started fighting.
Khalid Ibn Se’eed was martyred and the enemy fought at the river near her tent. Umm, Hakim tied her clothes tightly around her, still
reeking of perfume. Then armed with one pole of the tent where Khalid had
spent the previous night with her, she fought until she killed
seven of the Romans.”
Related by Ibn Hajar
Al-‘Asqelani in his book Al-Isabeh fi Temyeez As-Sahabeh
(Accurate Biographies of the
Companions).
Umm Hakim, Wife of Omar Ibn
Al-Khattab:
قال الزبير بْن بكار: ( أم حكيم بنت الحارث، كانت تحت عكرمة بْن أَبِي جهل، فقتل عنها يوم اليرموك شهيدا. فخلف عليها خالد بْن سعيد بْن العاص فقتل عنها يوم مرج الصقر شهيدا. فتزوجها عمر بْن الخطاب، فولدت له فاطمة بنت عمر، فتزوج فاطمةُ عَبْدَ الرَّحْمَن بْن زيد بن الخطاب، فولدت له عَبْد اللَّه بْن عَبْد الرَّحْمَن بْن زيد، فلعبد اللَّه عقب). ذكره ابن عساكر في تاريخ دمشق.
Al-Zubair Ibn Bakarرضي الله عنه said: “Umm Hakim Ibn Al-Harith was married to Ikrimah Ibn Abi Jahl, and he was martyred during the battle of Yermook. Then Khalid Ibn Se’eed Ibn Al-‘Aas married her, and he was martyred during the battle of Merej Al-Saqr. Then Omar Ibn Al-Khattabرضي الله عنه married her, and she bore him a daughter Fatimeh Bint Omarرضي الله عنه.
Related by Ibn Asakir in the ‘History of Damascus’.
[1] Umm Hakim’s father,
Al-Harith Ibn Hisham Ibn Al-Mughireh, and Abu Jehl (Amr
Ibn Hisham Ibn Al-Mughireh) are brothers. Umm Hakim was married to her
paternal cousin Ikrimah Ibn Abi Jehl. Khalid Ibn Al-Waleed was her
maternal uncle. Their family were bitter enemies of the Prophet, but
Al-Harith Ibn Hisham, his daughter Umm Hakim, and Ikrimah embraced
Islam later.
Related by Ibn Asakir in the ‘History of Damascus’
Related by Al-Hakim;
- ↑3.0 3.1 The Origins of the Islamic State: Being a Translation from the Arabic ... - Abu Al-Abbas Ahmad Bin Jab Al-Baladhuri, Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyá Balādhurī - Google Books. 2002. ISBN 9781931956635. Retrieved 2014-01-18.[dead link]
- ↑4.0 4.1 ?Abar?; Tabari (1994-02-17). The History of al-Tabari Vol. 14: The Conquest of Iran A.D. 641-643/A.H. 21-23 - Ṭabarī - Google Books. ISBN 9780791412947. Retrieved 2014-01-18.
- ↑ Republic of Égyptien Q42 user:mgbtrust0 ®™✓©§∆∆∆€¢£. "Page 248 - Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kubra ta al-Khanji - Fatima - al-Maktaba al-Shamela" (in ar).
- ↑
- ↑ Nomani, Shibli (2003). LIFE OF OMAR THE GREAT, THE (AL-FAROOQ) - Shibli Nomani - Google Books. ISBN 9788174353382. Retrieved 2014-01-18.
- ↑ Khan, Maulana Wahiduddin; k̲h̲Ān̲, Vaḥīduddīn (1992). God-oriented Life: In the Light of Sayings and Deeds of the Prophet Muhammad ... - Google Books. ISBN 9788185063973. Retrieved 2014-01-18.
- ↑ G̲h̲az̤anfar, Mahmūd Aḥmad (2009). Great Women of Islam: Who Were Given the Good News of Paradise - Mahmood Ahmad Ghadanfar - Google Books. ISBN 9789960897271. Retrieved 2014-01-18.
- ↑ Engineer, Asgharali (2005). The Qurʼan, Women, and Modern Society - Asgharali Engineer - Google Books. ISBN 9781932705423. Retrieved 2014-01-18.
- ↑ Ahmed, Leila (28 July 1993). Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate - Leila Ahmed - Google Books. ISBN 0300055838. Retrieved 2014-01-18.
