Umm Maabad: Hostess Of The Prophet - An
Intelligent Woman Realized The Prophet Was A Man Of
The Truth
Islamic Perspectives - Muslim Journals
Arab News & Information - By Adil Salahi
It was the first encounter with the Prophet (peace be
upon him) that made Umm Maabad realize that he was
unlike all men. She was a Bedouin woman living well
into the desert at a considerable distance from Makkah.
When the Prophet immigrated to Madinah, the people of
Makkah were keen to kill him. They put into action
their plot to assassinate him but he managed to
migrate. He headed to Madinah, taking a very
unfamiliar desert route. With him were Abu Bakr, his
closest companion, Amir ibn Fuhairah, Abu Bakr's
servant, and a guide who was an expert in desert
routes. The journey would take them more than two
weeks, and they obviously needed to rest and get food
on the way. Hence they stopped at Umm Maabad's place
who provided generous hospitality to travelers.
That was a year of scarcity, with little rain, which
adversely affected people and cattle. As the Prophet
(peace be upon him) and his companions sat in her
tent, they asked her whether she could sell them any
food, but she had none. She told them that they would
have been her honored guests, but she had nothing.
Looking around, the Prophet saw a sheep at one corner
of the tent. He asked her whether she would permit him
to milk the sheep. She said: "This sheep is too weak
to join our other sheep which my husband has driven to
graze. If you can find a drop of milk in her, milk her
by all means."
The Prophet rubbed the udder of the sheep, glorified
God and prayed to Him. He then added a special prayer:
"My Lord, bless her sheep for this woman." The sheep's
udder was soon full of milk. The Prophet asked Umm
Maabad for a large pan and he milked the sheep. The
pan was full of milk. He gave first to Umm Maabad and
she drank as much as she could. Then he gave it to his
three companions, one after the other. He was the last
to drink. He said: "The server drinks last." Everyone
had their fill. The Prophet then milked the sheep
again and filled the pan to the brim.
When they had rested for a while, the Prophet and his
three companions resumed their travel. When Umm Maabad
told her husband that evening of her remarkable guest,
he suggested that he was most probably Quraysh's
wanted man. Therefore, the following day, when his
chasers arrived at her tent and asked whether she saw
him, she pretended not to understand their inquiry,
giving them the impression that no one passed that way
for days.
Umm Maabad was an intelligent woman. When she heard
the Prophet and saw him, she realized that he was a
man of the truth. Some reports suggest that she
adopted Islam on that day, before he left her. Other
reports suggest that she traveled to Madinah later
with her husband where both became Muslims. We have
her description of the Prophet, which is more detailed
and comprehensive than any his companions gave.
Some 20 years later, the Prophet's wives went for
pilgrimage, they passed by her tents. They were
accompanied by Uthman ibn Affan, toward the end of
Umar's reign. When she saw them, she wept and told
them of the Prophet's visit. They recognized her
action, and they also wept. Each one of them gave her
a gift. They also told her to visit them when the
Caliph distributed the state's income. She did, and
each one of them gave her 50 dinars, (the gold
currency used then). They were seven at the time.
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