• Sawda bint zama’a

• 2nd wife of prophet saw

• Scholars hv said many wndrful things abt her
• Firm, from first generation of ppl to accept islam
• Haajarat ilal habasha wa ilal madina fa hiya min ashab hijratayn –
migrated to Ethiopia then to madinah – therefore from ashab hijratayn, the
ppl who migrated twice.
• Related 5 ahadith (6 authentic books of ahadith) – 1 in sahih Bukhari – ibn
abbas n yahya bin Abdullah al ansari related on behalf of sawda
• Greatness: aaeyshah said: I never saw a wonman that was more beloved
to me to emulate and be than sawda ra
• Name: sawda bint zama
• From the tribe of quraysh – the tribe of al ‘amr
• Mother of sawda: Shamsus – daughter of qays
• Her characteristics: extremely tall
• One day the wives of prophet gathered arnd him n sed which one of us
wud be the first one to meet u after ur death – the one frnm amngst u who
has the longest hands – aaeyshah said that we immdetly began to look at
each other’s hands and compare – n we found that sawda had the longest
hands out of all of us – after the death of Muhammad saw it became clear
to us that the long hands meant the one who’d spend the most in the
cause of allah swt (this was another wife of prophet Muhammad saw)
• Her Islam: accepted islam in the first year of the call of the prophet saw to
islam
• Abu bakr went to a home to give da’wah – THERE WAS A MAN WITH THE
NAME AS SAKaRAN - he accepted islam and he was the first husband of
sawda bint zama’a – she followed him and accepted islam
• Two brothers of sawda bint zama’a: suhayl ibn ‘amr and ‘abdullah bin
zama’a – suhayl ibn ‘amr was that one person who objected when the
prophet Muhammad saw wrote bismillahir rahman nirraheem while writing
down the treaty of hudaybiyyah (suleh hudaybiyyah) – he said he didn’t
know what it meant and insisted upon writing bismikallahumma instead –
it was suhayl ibn ‘amr who again objected when Muhammad saw wrote
that the treaty was between Muhammad the messenger of allah – he said I
don’t believe that you are the messenger of allah so write your name and
your father’s name instead and the prophet saw did it.
• Sawda bint zama’a and her husband faced severe hardships after
accepting islam – so much so that they had to migrate to Ethiopia when
migration was allowed in the 5th year of muhammad’s prophethood. (to
fully appreciate this sacrifice made by a young married couple, kindly
elaborate on the hardships they faced and how they put Allah swt first in
their marriage life and not their business and livelihood. Remember that
the language spoken in Ethiopia was way different than the Arabic they
spoke and the Ethiopian culture was totally different than the arab culture
they were used to)
• Then they heard that the situation in makkah had turned very hospitable
for Muslims so they migrated back to makkah only to find out that it was a
trick!
• They were tested so greatly and eventually sawda bint zama’a lost her
husband (try to make the audience imagine how sawda bint zama’a must
 be feeling when she lost her husband who supported her through thick
and thin of life and now she was in the land where she was a new muslim
and where her religion was a minority faith.

Hal jaza ul ihsaan ilal ihsaan

Situtn in makkah chngd – went bck was a trick – severe trials – lost da hubby –

In the lnd whre her faiyh was a minority wiud no husbnd

Tell dem abt the sacrifices she made n how she was tested greatly after she
embraced islam refer to the verse where allah swt says by these tests allah swt
will separate the believers from the disbelievers – wa zulzilu hatta yaqoolar
rasoolu wal ladeena amanoo ma’a mata nasrullah ala inna nasrullah qareeb –
and they were so shaken in spirit that even the apostle and those of faith who
were with him cried, “When will come the help of Allah?” Ah, verily, the help of
Allah is near. (02:214) RELATE sawda bint zama’a’s trials to the women of this
age and time and how they can be patient and consistent like our mother sawda
bint zama’a. Through these trials Allah wishes to bring forth the gold women out
of us all! (situations of reverts)

Allah swt gave her a reward which made her forget all her trials – marriage to
prophet Muhammad saw – at the same time wen sawda lost her husband our
mother khadija passed away –(innamt dunya mata’a – this duniya is nothing but
material things – wa khairum mata’ai ha – and the best mata’a in this duniya - is
the righteous wife) khalwa bint hakim came to prophet in makkah n noticed he
was hvng a difficult time – had to raise children – companions were reluctant to
ask prophet to remarry cos of her intense love for khadijah but khalwa took the
step (look at the community the prophet built, shows how the companions used
to take care of each other’s needs – al mumin al mumin kal bunyaan – the
believers with each other are like one building – yu shuddu ba’dan ba’da –
support each other) why don’t you marry, who will I marry, you can marry
aaeyshah n sawda bint zama’a – he married both of them around the same time
– went to the father zama’a (he was not a muslim)– n told him that Muhammad
wants to marry his daughter – make them realise why is it that today
fathers/parents are the last to know who their children are interested in? And
why is it difficult for children to relate to their parents and to open up with them?
Give parents the example of sawda’s father, zama’a and how he said, I m fine
with the proposal but ask my daughter FIRST! – zama’a said I will b honoured to
hv Muhammad as my son in law but go and ask my daughter sawda first – the
example of ibrahim and isma’eel from surah saffat when he said, fanzuru maza
tara – what do you think about this order that I have received from allah swt –
lesson of shoora between parents - ismaeel said, o my father do what you have
been ordered insha Allah ta’ala you will find me amongst those who have
patience – a lesson for our children to learn - coming back to sawda, so
alhamdulillah her father was involved and her father involved her so it was a
blessed marriage then she became sawda the wife of Muhammad saw – 400
dirham as mehr - her bro ‘abdullah was out of makkah at the time of her
marriage, was a disbeliever, got to know abt the mrrg, bcme enraged, the test
for sawda once again, the road of da’wah n to paradise is surrounded by tests, -
he said to his father how could he let her marry Muhammad, he picked a handful
of sand and he threw it in his face – this is hw enrged he was – innamal usri
yusra, verily with hardship comes ease – he became a muslim – may I b
destroyed on the day that I took tht dust n thrw it in my face coz I objected
sawda marrying Muhammad saw - the marriage of sawda with Muhammad (for a
long period Muhammad saw lived only with sawda bint zama’a and ‘aisha came
to live with the prophet in madinah) : da’wah went out of makkah – companions
trained by Muhammad saw like mus’ab bin ‘umair – began to give da’wah to the
tribes n individuals outside of madinah – 1st ‘aqabah pledge to believe in
muhammad’s call and to accept it – 2nd ‘aqabah pledge help/defend and serve
the call of Muhammad – opening the gate for the hijrah to madinah – al israa wal
miraaj and she supported Muhammad – many ppl left islam wen they hread he
made isra wal miraaj but sawda supported him – an nadwa, the council to
assassinate muhammad – migration of Muhammad to madinah – SAWDA’s
migration to madinah – zaid bin thabit n abu rafaee to migrate with prophets
family 500 dirham – some of the great qualities of sawda : her sacrifice for
knowledge al ‘ilm imaamul ‘aml the knowledge is the imaam of actions – she
knew she had to have knowledge to b a good muslimah – Muhammad married
aaeyshah when he migrated to madinah – sawda got scared – sge thought
prohpert will divorce her and she got nervous n came to Muhammad one day n
sed ya rasool allah she sed I will give my night to aaeyshah but keep me as your
wife – prophet didn’t want to divorce sawda so he didn’t – she used to ask qstns
from Muhammad , one day her animal died n prophet asked is this halal can we
eat this? Allah swt sent down a verse in reply to the qstn of sawda bint zama’a
surah an’aam – nice sense of humour – hafsa n aaeyshah (teasing sawda) they
sed to sawda dajjal has come n sawda got scared n ran into her home n got
scared – n prophet saw him n she asked her has it come n he sed no but the time
is near – hafsah n aaeyshah were joking she had a good laugh – the verses
telling the wives to do hijaab were sent down cos of sawda bint zama’a - umar
was prssng Muhammad to order his wives to wear hijaab but prophet never
wanted to until allah ordered him – any of the wives of Muhammad when they’d
go out at night they used a rest room for their physical needs – one night sawda
came out n since she was very tall n umar noticed sawda walkin n he sed to her
ya sawda we recognise u – cos of his intense desire tht allah will reveal the
verses of hijaab – arnd 5 or 6 times revealed verses agreed with the ijtihaad of
‘umar – lesson : sawda went out at night with haya so that she would not be
recognised but wen umar sed this to hr she complnd to Muhammad asking him
to tell umar not to look at her = obv umar just happnd to look at her but tht was
the haya - nowadays haya is on the endangered species list , we go to
conventions n all that in the day light but still we don’t fear allah wear disco
hijaabs n fitted jilbabs n all that – az zuhud fid dunya (u hv dunya in ur hand but
not in ur heart) ibn qayyim mentions sulayman and dawood, they were the ppl
who had most zuhud in their day and he asked Allah to make him a king –
Muhammad was the greatest zahid in his days but still he had 9 wives and wore
a nice white Yemeni cloth, nice perfume, used miswaak – now ppl think if u r frm
ppl of zuhud u r nasty n all dirty this is riyaa – sawda was sent a large gift by
‘umar, she distributed it to others – imaam ad dhahabi mentions dat she was
known to be very strict on sticking to the book and the sunnah – she diead at the
end of the khilafa of ‘umar – some say 54 years after the hijrah of Muhammad
saw in the time of mu’awiyyah – stronger opinion is the former one – on the day
she died ibn abbas was sitting in the masjid n wasn’t aware of the death of
sawda n suddenly someon1 came n whispered smthng in his ear n immediately
ibn abbas went to sujood after rising his studnts askd r u making sujood at this
time – Muhammad taught us if we r faced with a trial we shud make sujood n
implore allah n ask for his assistance – then he sed, fa ayyu aayatin azamu min
zihaabi azwaajin nabi saw and is their a greater trial than the death of one of the
wives of Muhammad saw – he was talking abt sawda – so what qualities must
she have had that would cause ibn abbas to do what he did !!!