Umm Ayman (Barakah)

She carried him ﷺ as an orphan and wept after him for the revelation that had ceased.

The account

Barakah al-Habashiyyah belonged to the Prophet's ﷺ father and was the young widow Aminah's companion on the journey where she died; the six-year-old rode back to Makkah in Barakah's arms, and she never left him. He freed her, called her "my mother after my mother," and married her to Zayd; their son was Usama, the beloved son of the beloved. She made both hijrahs, Abyssinia and Madinah, on foot and fasting until, the reports say, heaven sent down a bucket to her thirst.

She appears at the seams of the story: bandaging at Uhud, carrying water, scolding the routed at Hunayn with her accented Arabic the Prophet gently corrected. After the Passing, Abu Bakr and Umar visited her as he used to, and found her weeping. Do you not know that what is with Allah is better for His Messenger? I know, she said: I weep because revelation from heaven has ceased. Her tears defined the loss for the whole ummah, and the two caliphs wept with her. Every prophet's story hides a woman who carried it before it could walk; the Codex names this one.

The facts

Carried himFrom his mother's grave
His word“My mother after my mother”
FamilyWife of Zayd, mother of Usama
Her tearsFor the ceased revelation

The narrations

She said: I weep because the revelation from heaven has ceased. And she moved them both to weeping with her.

Muslim 2454

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BeforeIkrimah ibn Abi Jahl AfterHafsah bint Umar

On the Companions page The Path