Sayyda Sawdah bent Zam'ah [AAH]

Mother of believers:
Sayyda Sawdah bent Zam'ah [AAH]

She is the mother of believers, Sawdah bent Zam’ah bent Qays al-'Amereyah al-Quraisheyah. The second wife of the Prophet [PPBUH] and a wellborn one. Her mother is bent Qays ibn Zaid al-Ansareyah, from Bani Uday ibn an-Najjar, her brother is Malek ibn Zam’ah. She is the first wife that the Prophet [PPBHU] got married to her after sayyda Khadijah [AAH].
Her embracing Islam:
She [AAH] embraced Islam from an early time and pledged allegiance to the Prophet [PPBUH], she got married to a cousin of hers, named as-Sakran ibn Amro, who also embraced Islam. They all emigrated to Habasha in the second emigration. When they came back to Makkah, her husband died while she had, then, five sons from him. It was said: that he died in Habasha and when she was lawful to be proposed to (that is; completed her period of Iddah), The Messenger of Allah [PPBUH] proposed to her, then married her [AAH].
[The period of ‘Iddah is the period during which a women “divorcee or widow” must stay without marriage till it is completed, it is for the all four months and ten days and for the pregnant one until she gives birth].
Her marriage to The Prophet [PPBUH]:
Ibn Abbas narrated that: Sawdah bent Zam’ah was with as-Sakran ibn Amro, the brother of Suhail ibn Amro, she saw in a vision that the Prophet [PPBUH] came walking till he tread on her neck. When she told her husband about that, he said: By your father, if your vision comes true, I will die and the Messenger of Allah [PPBUH] will marry you. But she denied that for herself. Then she saw a vision in another night that a moon descended on her, from the sky, while she was lying down. She told her husband and he said: By your father, if your vision is true, I will not stay much till I die and you will get married after me. As-Sakran became ill from that day and did not last much till he died, then the Messenger of Allah [PPBUH] married her. That was on Ramadan in 10 H. It was said on Shaw-wal as Imam ibn Kathir mentioned in “the beginning and the end”.
Khawlah bent al-Hakem as-Salamiya, the wife of Osman ibn Maz’oun said: I said "O, Messenger of Allah [PPBUH], will not you marry?" He [PPBUH] said: (Who?) I said "A virgin if you will or an ex-married". He [PPBUH] said (And who is the virgin one?) I said "The daughter of the most beloved one to you of Allah’s creation: Aisha bent Abi-Bakr. He [PPBUH] said (and who is the ex-married?) I said "Sawdah bent Zam’ah ibn Qays, she believed in you and followed your path". He said [PPBUH] (Go and ask them and tell me). I entered the house of Abi-Bakr first then I went to Sawdah and said “O, Sawdah what a great grace and blessing Allah gave to you!” she said [AAH] “and what is it?” I said "The Messenger of Allah sent me for proposing to you". She said: “I want that. Enter on my father and tell him about that”. And he was an old man who did not go to Hajj. I entered on him, saying "Mohammad ibn Abdullah [PPBUH] sent me for proposing to Sawdah". He said "He is a respectable match, so what does your friend say?" I said "she told me that she wants to". He said "call her". So I did, and he said "Mohammad ibn Abdullah sent to propose to you and he is a respectable match, so would you like me to marry you to him? She said “Yes”. He said to me "Let him come to me". And I did. So he [PPBUH] came and her father married her to him [PPBUH].
The act of her brother when he knew about her marriage:
Sayyda Aisha said “The Messenger of Allah [PPBUH] got married to Sawdah bent Zam’ah [AAH] and when her brother, Abd ibn Zam’ah, returned from Hajj, he was putting the dust on his head - as an act of angry - however when he embraced Islam, he said: I was a fool when I put the dust on my head when the Messenger of Allah [PPBUH] married Sawdah bent Zam’ah.
From the futures of her personality:
When we read her good, sweet scented biography, we will find that she was a woman who gathered from the merits the greatest and from the attributes the best and most honorable. She [AAH] had beside all that, a kindness in her association and a fun in her soul. That enabled her to blaze the happiness and joy in the heart of the Prophet [PPBUH]. From that was what ibn Saad reported in "at-Tabaqaat" [the levels] that she [AAH] once prayed behind the Prophet [PPBUH], while he was worshiping at night, and she got tired from the long prayer. The next morning when she woke up, she said to the Messenger of Allah [PPBUH] “I prayed behind you, yesterday and you stayed kneeling down for so long with me behind you until I held my nose for fear of dropping blood from it”. The Messenger of Allah [PPBUH] laughed. She used to making him [PPBUH] laugh, for things like that.
Her love to alms:
One of her merits was that she was so generous in almsgiving that Omar ibn al-Khattab [AAH] once sent her a vessel full of Dirhams, but she [AAH] said “what is this?” They said: Dirhams, she said “put in a vessel like dates?” Then she disturbed all those Dirhams among the poor.
Her acumen:
She preferred, in her life, loving the Messenger of Allah [PPBUH] for the sake of the Messenger of Allah [PPBUH], and for his love preferring her position with him. He [PPBUH] used to divide his days among his wives except her with her content, as she [AAH] preferred pleasing the Messenger of Allah [PPBUH].
Sayyda Aisha [AAH] narrated that Sawdah [AAH] gave her day and night with the Prophet [PPBUH] to Aisha [AAH], out of her desire to please the Messenger of Allah [PPBUH]. It was mentioned in Sahih Muslem that sayyda Aisha [AAH] said “I never met a woman that I wanted better to be like her than Sawdah bent Zam’ah. She was a woman of sharpness” - sayyda Aisha wished to be like sayyda Sawdah bent Zam’ah [AAT] in her right guidance and her way of life. Sayyda Aisha [AAH] did not mean any defect in sayyda Sawdah [AAT] with that Hadith, but she described her as a woman has a strong soul and good genius which is what she meant by her sharpness - Sayyda Aisha said too about sayyda Sawdah [AAT] “When she grew old, she gave her day of the Messenger of Allah [PPBUH] for me, saying: O, Messenger of Allah, I gave my day with you to Aisha”. So, the Messenger of Allah [PPBUH] was giving Aisha two days, her day and the day of Sawdah.
An-No'man ibn Thabit at-Taymey narrated that: The Messenger of Allah [PPBUH] said to Sawdah bent Zam’ah (you are in the Iddah period). So she sat on his way one night, and she [AAH] said to him “O, Messenger of Allah [PPBUH], I do not desire men any more, but I love to be resurrected among your wives, so return me back to you”. Then he [PPBUH] did return her. For this situation this verse was revealed [if a woman feared from her husband to desert her or turn away from her, there is no blame on them if they reconcile, and reconciliation is better] an-Nesa’ 4:128. Ibn Abbas said: And whatever they reconciled on is permissible. Narrated by al-Bayhaqy this from his sunan.
From her situations with the Messenger [PPBUH]:
Abdul-Rahman ibn Saad ibn Zararah said: the prisoners of war of Badr were brought, while Sawdah bent Zam’ah [AAH] the wife of the Prophet [PPBUH] was at the house of Aal-Aaffra', with Awf and Me’waz the sons of ‘Affra', and that was before imposing the veil upon the wives of the Prophet [PPBUH]. She [AAH] said “The prisoners of war were brought, and then I went to my house. When I entered the room, I saw Suhail ibn Amro – he was one of her in laws - in a side of the room with his hands tied to his neck. When I saw him, I did not control myself, and I said: O, Abo-Yazid, you were given what was in your hands! Could not you die in honor!” She said “By Allah, I was not alerted except by the Messenger of Allah [PPBUH] from inside the house, saying (O, Sawdah, is that against Allah and His Messenger?) I said: O, Messenger of Allah, by Allah, I was not in control of myself when I saw Abo-Yazid, and said what I said”.
Ibn Abbas said: a sheep of Sawdah bent Zam’ah died, she said “O, Messenger of Allah [PPBUH], the sheep died”. He said [PPBUH] (did you take its hide). She said “Do we take the hide of a died sheep”. The Messenger [PPBUH] said to her (Allah Almighty said [Say: I do not find, in what was revealed to me, aught prohibited to an eater that he eat thereof, except it be dead animal, or blood poured forth, or swine flesh] al-An’aam 7:145, as you will not eat it, but you will tan the hide to make use of it). So she sent for it and skinned its hide and tanned it. Then she made out of it a waterskin and used it till it was pierced.
Sayyda Aisha [AAH] said "Sawdah bent Zam’ah asked the permission of the Messenger of Allah [PPBUH] to let her push (start walking) before Him [PPBUH] and he permitted her to do that - Al-Qasem said: she [AAH] was a heavy woman - So, she pushed and we were withheld with him [PPBUH] till he pushed and we pushed with him. Sayyda Aisha [AAH] said: If I asked the permission of the Messenger of Allah [PPBUH], like Sawdah did, to push before people, it would have been better for me, from what is rejoiced with.
Her known situations with the companions [AAT]:
Her situation with sayydi Omar ibn al-Khattab [AAH]:
Imam Ahmed, al-Bukharey and Muslem narrated from the saying of Hesham ibn Orwah from his father from sayyda Aisha [AAH] that she said “After the imposing of the veil [Hejjab], Sawdah [AAH] went out for her need. She was a fat woman, who could not be hidden from whoever knew her. Omar ibn al-Khattab [AAH] saw her and said “O, Sawdah, by Allah, you are hidden from us, so consider how you will go out?” Sayyda Aisha [AAH] said: then she returned hurrying to her house and the Messenger of Allah [PPBUH] was in my house having his dinner and he had some meat in his hand, then Sawdah entered and said “O, Messenger of Allah [PPBUH], I went out for some need of mine, then Omar said to me: so-and-so”. Sayyda Aisha said [AAH] “Then the revelation came to him, then he was relieved, while the meat is still in his hand, and he said (It has been permitted for you to go out for your needs).
Her situation with sayyda Aisha [AAT]:
Sayyda Aisha [AAH] said “I entered to Sawdah bent Zam’ah and sat down. The Messenger of Allah [PPBUH] was between me and her. I had made Harirah [a kind of food made from flour, butter and milk] and brought it to her saying: Eat. She said: I will not eat. I said: By Allah, if you do not eat, I will stain you face with it. She said: I will not eat. Then I took some of it and stained her face with it. This made the Messenger of Allah [PPBUH] laugh while he was between us. She took some of it too to stain my face with. The Messenger of Allah [PPBUH] lowered his knee for her, laughing to give her a chance to get me. Then she took some of it and stained my face with it while the Messenger of Allah [PPBUH] was laughing”.
Her situation with sayyda Aisha and sayyda Hafsah [AAT]:
Khulaysah the attendant of Hafsah narrated the story of Hafsah and Aisha with Sawdah bent Zam’ah [AAT] and how they made a joke on her, and told her that ad-Dajjal [the distorted imposter, who would come at the end of time to delude people and make them worship him] has come out, so, she hided in a house where they used to make fire. They were laughing on her, when the Messenger of Allah [PPBUH] came and said (what is the matter with you?) They told him [PPBUH] about what they had done with Sawdah then He [PPBUH] went to her, she asked him “O, Messenger of Allah [PPBUH], did ad-Dajjal came out?”. He [PPBUH] said (No, but as if he is out). So, she came out and shacked the spiders’ eggs off her.
Some of her narrations from the Prophet [PPBUH]:
Al-Bukhary narrated from sayyda Sawdah, the wife of the Prophet [PPBUH], that she said “a sheep of us had died then we tanned its hide and we kept soaking food in it till it became pierced”.
She [AAH] said: a man came to the Prophet [PPBUH] and said: my father is an old man and cannot do Hajj. He [PPBUH] said (you see; if your father had a debt and you paid it instead of him, will it be acceptable?) The man said: Yes. The Prophet [PPBUH] said (Allah is more Merciful, so do Hajj for your father).
She [AAH] said too: The Messenger of Allah [PPBUH] said (People will resurrect barefooted, naked, having a blaze on their foreheads, and the sweat disables them from speaking till it reaches the lobes of their ears). I said “will we see each other?” He [PPBUH] said (people will be occupied [Every one of them, on that day, will have his own matter, suffices him] Abas 80:37.
She [AAH] said that she looked in a hole of water, one time, and then The Messenger of Allah [PPBUH] forbade her from doing that, saying (I fear for you, if you do this, from Satan).
Her effect on others:
From the companions of the Prophet [PPBUH] who narrated from her [AAH] are Abdullah ibn Abbas and Abdullah ibn az-Zubair ibn al-Awwam [AAT].
From the followers who narrated from her [AAH] are yahya ibn Abdullah ibn Abdul-Rahman, Yusuf ibn az-Zubair and Mawla az-Zubair ibn al-Awwam [AAT].
Her death:
The mother of believers, sayyda Sawdah bent Zam’ah [AAH] passed away to Allah on the end of the era of sayydi Omar ibn al-Khattab [AAH], in most sayings. It was said too that she [AAH] passed away in 54 H.

Edited by Rawya Ramadan.
Translated by Fatima az-Zahraa.

http://www.almagalla.info/2011e/dec2.htm
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