Hazrat 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.