Abu Sufyan ibn Harb could not conceive of anyone among the Quraysh who would
dare challenge his authority or go against his orders. He was
after all, the
sayyid or chieftain of Makkah who had to be obeyed and followed.
His daughter,
Ramlah, known as Umm Habibah, however dared to challenge his authority when she
rejected the deities of the Quraysh and their
idolatrous ways.
Together with her husband, Ubaydullah ibn Jahsh, she put her faith in Allah
alone and accepted the message of His prophet,
Muhammad ibn
Abdullah.
Abu Sufyan tried
with all the power and force at his disposal to bring back his daughter and her
husband to his religion and the religion of their
forefathers. But he
did not succeed. The faith which was embedded in the heart of Ramlah was too
strong to be uprooted by the hurricanes of
Abu Sufyans fury.
Abu Sufyan remained
deeply worried and concerned by his daughter's acceptance of Islam. He did not
know how to face the Quraysh after she
had gone against
his will and he was clearly powerless to prevent her from following Muhammad.
When the Quraysh realized though that Abu
Sufyan himself was
enraged by Ramlah and her husband, they were emboldened to treat them harshly.
They unleashed the full fury of their
persecution against
them to such a degree that life in Makkah became unbearable.
In the fifth year
of his mission, the Prophet, peace be on him, gave permission to the Muslims to
migrate to Abyssinia. Ramlah, her little daughter
Habibah, and her
husband were among those who left.
Abu Sufyan and the
Quraysh leaders found it difficult to accept that a group of Muslims had slipped
out of their net of persecution and was
enjoying the
freedom to hold their beliefs and practice their religion in the land of the
Negus. They therefore send messengers to the Negus to
seek their
extradition. The messengers tried to poison the mind of the Negus against the
Muslims but after examining the Muslims beliefs and
listening to the
Quran being recited, the Negus concluded: "What has been revealed to your
Prophet Muhammad and what Jesus the son of Mary
preached came from
the same source."
The Negus himself
announced his faith in the one true God and his acceptance of the prophethood of
Muhammad, peace be on him. He also
announced his
determination to protect the Muslim muhajirin.
The long journey on
the road of hardship and tribulation had finally led to the oasis of serenity.
So Umm Habibah felt. But she did not know that
the new-found
freedom and sense of peace were later to be shattered. She was to be put through
a test of the most severe and harrowing
kind.
One night, it is
related, as Umm Habibah was asleep she had a vision in which she saw her husband
in the midst of a fathomless ocean covered
by wave upon wave
of darkness. He was in a most perilous situation. She woke up, frightened. But
she did not wish to tell her husband or
anyone else what
she had seen.
The day after that
ominous night was not yet through when Ubaydallah ibn Jahsh announced his
rejection of Islam and his acceptance of
Christianity. What
a terrible blow! Ramlah's sense of peace was shattered. She did not expect this
of her husband who presented her forthwith
with the choice of
a divorce or of accepting Christianity. Umm Habibah had three options before
her. She could either remain with her husband
and accept his call
to become a Christian in which case she also would commit apostasy and - God
forbid - deserve ignominy in this world and
punishment in the
hereafter. This was something she resolved she would never do even if she were
subjected to the most horrible torture. Or,
she could return to
her father's house in Makkah - but she knew he remained a citadel of shirk and
she would be forced to live under him,
subdued and
suppressing her faith. Or, she could stay alone in the land of the Negus as a
displaced fugitive - without country, without family and
without a
supporter. She made the choice that she considered was the most
pleasing to God. She made up her mind to stay in Abyssinia until such time as
God
granted her relief.
She divorced her husband who lived only a short while after becoming a
Christian. He had given himself over to frequenting
wine merchants and
consuming alcohol, the "mother of evils". This undoubtedly helped to destroy
him.
Umm Habibah stayed
in Abyssinia for about ten years. Towards the end of this time, relief and
happiness came. It came from an unexpected
quarter.
One morning bright
and early, there was a loud knocking on her door. It was Abrahah, the special
maid-servant of the Negus. Abrahah was
beaming with joy as
she greeted Umm Habibah and said: "The Negus sends his greetings and says to you
that Muhammad, the Messenger of
God, wants you to
marry him and that he has sent a letter in which he has appointed him as his
wakil to contract the marriage between you and
him. If you agree,
you are to appoint a wakil to act on your behalf."
Umm Habibah was in
the clouds with happiness. She shouted to herself: "God has given you glad
tidings. God has given you glad tidings." She
took off her
jewelry- her necklace and bracelets - and gave them to Abrahah. She took off her
rings too and gave them to her. And indeed if she
had possessed all
the treasures of the world, she would have given them to Abrahah at that moment
of sheer joy. Finally she said to Abrahah: "I
appoint Khalid ibn
Said ibn al-Aas to act as wakil on my behalf for he is the closest person to
me."
In the palace of
the Negus, set in the midst of beautiful gardens and luxuriant vegetation and in
one of the lavishly decorated, sumptuously
furnished and
brightly lit halls, the group of Muslims living in Abyssinia gathered. They
included Jafar ibn Abi Talib, Khalid ibn Said, Abdullah ibn
Hudhafah as-Sahmi
and others. They had gathered to witness the conclusion of the marriage contract
between Umm Habibah, the daughter of
Abu Sufyan, and
Muhammad, the Messenger of God. When the marriage was finalized, the Negus
addressed the gathering: "I praise God, the
Holy, and I declare
that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is His Servant and His
Messenger and that He gave the good tidings to
Jesus the son of
Mary.
"The Messenger of
God, peace be on him, has requested me to conclude the marriage contract between
him and Umm Habibah the daughter of
Abu Sufyan. I
agreed to do what he requested and on his behalf I give her a mahr or dowry of
four hundred gold dinars." He handed over the
amount to Khalid
ibn Said who stood up and said: "All praise is due to God. I praise Him and seek
His help and forgiveness and I turn to Him in
repentance. I
declare that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger whom He has sent with the
religion of guidance and truth so that it
might prevail over
all other forms of religion even if the disbelievers were to dislike this.
"I have agreed to
do what the Prophet, peace be upon him, has requested and acted as the wakil on
behalf of Umm Habibah, the daughter of
Abu Sufyan. May God
bless His Messenger and his wife.
"Congratulations to
Umm Habibah on account of the goodness which God has ordained for her."
Khalid took the
mahr and handed it over to Umm Habibah. The Sahabah thereupon got up and
prepared to leave but the Negus said to them:
"Sit down for it is
the practice of the Prophets to serve food at marriages."
There was general
rejoicing at the court of the Negus as the guests sat down again to eat and
celebrate the joyous occasion. Umm Habibah
especially could
hardly believe her good fortune and she later described how she was eager to
share her happiness. She said: "When I received
the money as mahr,
I sent fifty mithqals of gold to Abrahah who had brought me the good news and I
said to her: 'I gave you what I did when
you gave me the
good news because at that time I did not have any money.'
"Shortly
afterwards, Abrahah came to me and returned the gold. She also produced a case
which contained the necklace I had given to her. She
returned that to me
and said: 'The King has instructed me not to take anything from you and he his
commanded the women in his household to
present you with
gifts of perfume.'
"On the following
day, she brought me ambergris, safron and aloes and said: 'I have a favor to ask
of you.' 'What is it?' I asked. 'I have accepted
Islam ,' she said,
'and now follow the religion of Muhammad. Convey to him my salutation of peace
and let him know that I believe in Allah and
His Prophet. Please
don't forget.' She then helped me to get ready for my journey to the
Prophet. "When I met the Prophet, peace be on him, I told him all
about the arrangements that were made for the marriage and about my relationship
with Abrahah. I
told him she had become a Muslim and conveyed to him her greetings of peace. He
was filled with joy at the news and said: 'Wa
alayha as-salam wa
rahmatullahi was barakatuhu and on her be peace and the mercy and blessings of
God. "
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