Biography of the ASMA' BINT 'UMAYS (رضي الله عنها)

Bin Ma'bad bin Al Harith Al Khath'amiyyah

She is Umm 'Abdillah, from those first and foremost to migrate.

It is said that she embraced Islam before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ entered the house of Arqam'.

She migrated to Abyssinia with her husband, Ja'far bin Abi Talib.

There, she gave birth to her children Abdullah, Muhammad, and 'Awn. 

Then she migrated with her husband Ja'far bin Abi Talib to Madinah in 7 AH.

Ja'far bin Abi Talib was martyred at the Battle of Mu'tah. 

Her Second Marriage:

Then she married Abu Bakr as-Siddiq and gave birth to their son Muhammad while in a state of ihram, and she performed the Farewell Pilgrimage. 

'A'ishah said:

Asma' bint 'Umays Abu Bakr's wife experienced postpartum bleeding after giving birth to Muhammad bin Abi Bakr in Shajarah', and the Messenger of Allah told Abu Bakr to tell her to make ghusl and enter ihram. 

Before Abu Bakr died, he stipulated that his wife Asma' bint 'Umays should wash his body upon his death.

And on the day he was dying, she was fasting, so he obligated her to break her fast because it would give her more strength. 

'Abdullah bin Abi Bakr said,

that Asma' bint 'Umays washed Abu Bakr as-Siddiq when he died.

Then she went out and asked some of the Muhajirun who were there,

"I am fasting and this is an extremely cold day.

Do I have to make ghusl?

"They said, "No." 

At the end of the day, right before sunset, Asma' remembered her oath to her husband to break her fast, so she asked for water and said,

"By Allah, today I will not follow his death by disobeying him."

Her Third Marriage:

'Ali bin Abi Talib then married her.

She gave birth to their children Yahya and 'Awn.

Her Two Migrations:

The hadith of Abu Musa has been collected in Al-Bukhari and Muslim.

He said, "The news of the migration of the Prophet (from Makkah to Madinah) reached us while we were in Yemen.

we set out as emigrants towards him.

We were (three): I and my two brothers.

I was the youngest of them, and one of the two was Abo Burdah, and the other was Abu Ruhm, and our total number was either 53 or 52 men from my people.

We got on board a boat, and our boat took us to an-Najashi in Abyssinia.

There, we met Ja'far bin Abi Talib and stayed with him.

Then we all came (to Madinah) and met the Prophet at the time of the conquest of Khaybar. 

"The Prophet allocated a share to us from the Battle of Khaybar.

And in most cases, a share would only be given to those present at the battle, not those who were absent, but he made an exception for us.

Some of the people who were present at the battle used to say to us the people of the ship.

Meaning 'We have migrated before you.' 

"Asma bint 'Umays came with us from Abyssinia.

When she arrived in Madinah, she visited Hafsah, the wife of the Prophet and the daughter of 'Umar.

'Umar said to his daughter Hafsah,

'Who is that? Is that the woman from Abyssinia, the woman from the sea??' 'Umar said to her,

'O woman from Abyssinia, we have migrated before you, we have more right to the Messenger of Allah than you.

' She said to 'Umar, 'You have surely spoken the truth.

You were with the Messenger of Allah, feeding the hungry and teaching the ignorant, while we were distant and repelled.

By Allah, I will surely mention this to the Messenger of Allah. 

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

"They do not have more right to me than you all.

He and his Companions migrated once, while you the people of the boat migrated twice." 

Asma' bint Umays said: 

يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ، إِنَّ هَؤُلَاءِ يَزْعُمُونَ أَنَّا لَسْنَا مِنَ الْمُهَاجِرِينَ.

قَالَ: كَذَبَ مَنْ يَقُولُ ذَلِكَ، لَكُمُ الْهِجْرَةُ مَرَّتَيْنِ :

هَاجَرْتُمْ إِلَى النَّجَاشِيِّ، وَهَاجَرْتُمْ إلى. 

"O Messenger of Allah, they alleged that we are not from the Muhajirun (those who migrated)."

He said, "Whoever says that is incorrect.

There are two migrations for you all:

you migrated to Abyssinia and you migrated to me." 

Ash Sha'bi said,

"The first person to cover a woman's shroud with a coffin was Asma, she learned this from what she saw the Christians doing in Abyssinia."

Her Cleverness:

While Asma' was married to 'Ali bin Abi Talib, her two sons Muhammad bin Abi Bakr and Muhammad bin Ja'far had a dispute with each one saying,

"I am nobler than you, my father was better than your father."

Ali said to her,

"Decide the matter between them."

She said to them,

"I have not seen a youth from the Arabs better than Ja'far.

And I have not seen an elder better than Abu Bakr."

Ali said, "If you would have given any other answer, I would have been upset with you, but you didn't say anything about me."

Asma replied, "Of the three, you were the least to choose." 

Her Narrations:

Asma' has narrations which have been collected in the books of hadith.

Those who narrated from her include:

her son 'Abdullah bin Ja'far,

her nephew 'Abdullah bin Shaddad, Sa'id bin al-Musayyib,

'Urwah, ash Sha'bi,

al-Qasim bin Muhammad, and others. 

She lived on after her husband Ali bin Abi Talib was killed. 

End...

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Some Notes from the book 📙

Chapter Asma Bint 'Umays:

- When Umar became the caliph, he gave her a stipend of 1,000 dirham. 

- Asma' bint Umays was married to two martyrs:

Ja'far bin Abi Talib and 'Ali bin Abi Talib.

And she was married to two caliphs:

Abu Bakr as Siddiq and Ali bin Abi Talib. 

- Asma' bint 'Umays had three sisters who were also from the noble Companions:

1) Maymunah bint al-Harith was her sister by way of her mother.

She was married to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. 

2) Umm al-Fadl Lubabah bint al-Harith was her sister by way of her mother.

She was married to al-'Abbas, the uncle of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. 

3) Salma bint 'Umays, she was married to the Lion of Allah Hamzah bin 'Abdul-Muttalib, the uncle of the Prophet ﷺ. 

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said about them:

The four sisters Maymunah, Umm al-Fadl, Salma, and Asma bint 'Umays are believing sisters of the same mother."

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