Barakah
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, 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 Muhammad was born, Barakah 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.
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