THE IDEAL MUSLIMAH

As Umm Salamah was the daughter of the Prophet’s aunt, Abu Salamah was also the son of Barrah bint Abdul-Mutallib, who was a Prophet’s aunt as well. He had an additional merit: he was a foster brother of the Prophet (peace be upon him).

Abu Salamah was among the favourite companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him), because of his early acceptance of Islaam, his endurance of immigration and Jihaad in the way of Allah and his firm eemaan, bravery, worship and righteousness. He therefore occupied a place in the eyes of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), who had appointed him a leader of some contingents. He sent him to Banu Asad in the month of Safar, 4 A.H. and be succeeded in his mission and fulfilled the trust.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) attested to his righteousness when he said, “The first person that will be given his record of deeds (on the day of resurrection) is Abu Salamah ibn Abdul-Asad.” Further, he had participated in the battle of Badr and had played a prominent role in it. He then participated in the battle of Uhud and was among those who remained firm. He suffered a serious injury in this from which he healed but not completely. For, after some time, the wound decayed and decayed and deteriorated until it was the cause of his death.

He once came to his wife, Umm Salamah and told her,

“I heard a statement from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) that is dearer to me than so and so. I heard him say:

“No one is afflicted by a calamity and then make istirjaa (by saying innaa lillahi wa innaa ilayhi raaji'oon – to Allah we belong and to him we are returning) and after that say,

‘O Allah! It is from you that I seek the reward of this calamity of mine.

O Allah provide a better substitute for me’,

except that Allah will give him that.”

Ziyad ibn Maryam narrated that Umm Salamah told Abu Salamah,

“I heard if the husband of a woman dies and he is one of the inhabitants of paradise and his wife did not remarry after him, Allah will join them together in paradise. The same thing applies to the man.”

Abu Salamah then told his wife,

“I am making a pledge with you that I will not marry after you and you will not marry after me.”

He then asked her,

“Will you obey me?”

Umm Salamah said, “If I did not want to obey you I would not have consulted you.” Abu Salamah changed his mind and said,

“If I do (die) you should remarry.”

He then said,

“O Allah! Provide for Umm Salamah after me a man who is better than me and who will not disgrace her or harm her.”

Umm Salamah said, “When he died I said, ‘Who is that man that will be better than Abu Salamah?’ Then after a while, the Messenger of Allah completely married me.”