Al-Saabah Bint Al-Hadrami: The Mother
Of Talhah One OfThe Earliest People To Embrace Islam
Islamic Perspectives - Muslim Journals
Arab News & Information - By Adil Salahi
In pre-Islamic Arabia, divorce and polygamy were
common practices. A man could marry any number of
women he wanted. Women could be divorced for any
reason, not least jealousy between a man's wives.
Al-Saabah's father, Abdullah ibn Imad, came from
Hadramout in Yemen and settled in Makkah, where he
became an ally of the Omayyad branch of Quraysh. He
came to be known as Al-Hadrami, in reference to his
former hometown. As an ally, he was of a lower rank in
the very strict hierarchy of the Arabian society. Yet,
his daughter, Al-Saabah, married Abu Sufyan, who was
later to become the chief of Makkah. Abu Sufyan also
married Hind bint Utbah, whose father was a highly
distinguished figure in Makkah and the chief of the
Abd Shams main clan of Quraysh. As Al-Saabah was a
very pretty woman, Hind was very jealous of her. She
continued to urge her husband until he succumbed to
her wishes and unwillingly divorced Al-Saabah who
later married Ubaydellah ibn Uthman. She gave him his
son Talhah and several others. All this took place
years before Islam, as Talhah was one of the earliest
people to embrace Islam.
Al-Saabah did not take well to her son's conversion to
Islam. She continued with her old pagan faith. In
fact, she took a hard attitude toward him. Massoud ibn
Harrash reports: "We were doing the sa'ie between Al-Safa
and Al-Marwah when we saw a young man with his hands
tied to his neck. He was driven somewhere, with many
people following him. We inquired what was the matter
with him. We were informed that he was Talhah and that
he embraced Islam. There was a woman walking close to
him. She was muttering abusive words at him. On
inquiry, we were told that she was Al-Saabah bint Al-Hadrami,
his mother." (Related by Al-Bukhari).
However, Talhah was able to influence his mother more
than she could influence him. She began to see the
truth of Islam, and it did not take her many years to
discover the truth of Islam. She became a Muslim and
joined the Muhajireen when it was time for the Muslims
of Makkah to immigrate to Madinah. She continued to be
a role model for Muslim women.
Talhah was a very dutiful son. In fact, he was a great
servant of Islam. The Prophet (peace be upon him) gave
him several titles. After the Battle of Uhud, he gave
him the title ‘Talhah Al-Khair', or ‘the goodness' and
on another occasion he called him ‘Talhah Al-Fayyad',
which means ‘overflowing with goodness', and after the
Battle of Hunayn, he called him ‘Talhah Al-Jood' which
means ‘generosity'. We can see that all these
descriptions were fitting of Talhah when we learn that
a man appealed to him for help, mentioning his love of
his mother. Talhah said: ‘No one ever made such an
appeal to me. I will honor it. I have a plot of land
which Uthman wanted to buy for 300,000 dirhams. You
either take it, or I will sell it to Uthman and give
you the price.' The man said: ‘I will take the price'.
He gave it to him.
Al-Saabah lived until Ali's reign, although we are
unsure of the date of her death. Yet at the time of
the wicked rebellion against the third Caliph, Uthman,
she passed by his house. She did not like what she
saw. She told her son that the rebels were besieging
the Caliph's home and told him to do something to
help. He went and did his best to repel them and ease
the Caliph's situation.
©
EsinIslam.Com
Add Comments