Umm Kulthum bint Muhammad

Introduction

Umm Kulthum was a daughter of the Prophet and Khadijah, and the younger sister of Ruqayyah. Like her sisters she accepted Islam from the earliest days. Before the Prophet's mission she had been engaged to a son of Abu Lahab, but that engagement was dissolved when Abu Lahab became an open enemy of the new faith.

She migrated to Madinah, and after her sister Ruqayyah died during Badr she was married to Uthman ibn Affan, the same man who had been married to Ruqayyah. For this he was known as Dhu an-Nurayn, the Possessor of Two Lights.

She died during the Prophet's lifetime, in 9 AH. Reports describe the Prophet sitting at her grave with tears flowing and entrusting the burial to Abu Talhah. Little of her daily conduct is preserved in authentic hadith, so this page is a short one.

The story

1. c. 603 CE

   Born in Makkah as a daughter of the Prophet and Khadijah.

2. c. 610 CE

   Accepts Islam alongside her family.

3. 622 CE / 1 AH

   Migrates to Madinah.

4. 3 AH / 624-625 CE

   Marries Uthman ibn Affan after Ruqayyah's death.

5. 9 AH / 630 CE

   Dies in Madinah. The Prophet attends her burial and weeps.

   • Sahih al-Bukhari 1285Sahih (opens in a new tab)

   Read the wording

   Arabic text

   قَالَ شَهِدْنَا بِنْتًا لِرَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ وَرَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم جَالِسٌ عَلَى الْقَبْرِ ـ قَالَ فَرَأَيْتُ عَيْنَيْهِ تَدْمَعَانِ قَالَ ـ فَقَالَ" هَلْ مِنْكُمْ رَجُلٌ لَمْ يُقَارِفِ اللَّيْلَةَ". فَقَالَ أَبُو طَلْحَةَ أَنَا. قَالَ" فَانْزِلْ". قَالَ فَنَزَلَ فِي قَبْرِهَا.

   “I saw his eyes shedding tears”

   Grade: Sahih (collected in Sahih al-Bukhari)

   • Read on sunnah.com (opens in a new tab)
   • Read on al-Hadees (opens in a new tab)

A day in their footsteps

1 small, repeatable practices from Umm Kulthum bint Muhammad's life. Each comes with the Arabic text and English wording of its source, and links to read the full report.

1. 1

   Honouring the dead: the Prophet's presence and tears at her burial

   • Patience

   Anas reported being at the funeral of one of the Prophet's daughters (identified by commentators on Bukhari as Umm Kulthum). The Prophet sat by the grave, tears flowing, and asked a man who had not been with his wife the previous night to descend into the grave, and Abu Talhah did so.

   Try this today

   Attend funerals, let the heart soften, and take the burial seriously.

   Sit with this

   When did a funeral last soften your heart?

   Source

   قَالَ شَهِدْنَا بِنْتًا لِرَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ وَرَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم جَالِسٌ عَلَى الْقَبْرِ ـ قَالَ فَرَأَيْتُ عَيْنَيْهِ تَدْمَعَانِ قَالَ ـ فَقَالَ" هَلْ مِنْكُمْ رَجُلٌ لَمْ يُقَارِفِ اللَّيْلَةَ". فَقَالَ أَبُو طَلْحَةَ أَنَا. قَالَ" فَانْزِلْ". قَالَ فَنَزَلَ فِي قَبْرِهَا.

   “I saw his eyes shedding tears”

   Grade: Sahih (collected in Sahih al-Bukhari)

   • Read on sunnah.com (opens in a new tab)
   • Read on al-Hadees (opens in a new tab)

Virtues

• She was a daughter of the Prophet and a Companion who migrated and lived under his roof; her father was present at her grave and wept for her.

  “We were (in the funeral procession) of one of the daughters of the Prophet”

  Arabic text

  قَالَ شَهِدْنَا بِنْتًا لِرَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ وَرَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم جَالِسٌ عَلَى الْقَبْرِ ـ قَالَ فَرَأَيْتُ عَيْنَيْهِ تَدْمَعَانِ قَالَ ـ فَقَالَ" هَلْ مِنْكُمْ رَجُلٌ لَمْ يُقَارِفِ اللَّيْلَةَ". فَقَالَ أَبُو طَلْحَةَ أَنَا. قَالَ" فَانْزِلْ". قَالَ فَنَزَلَ فِي قَبْرِهَا.

  Sahih al-Bukhari 1285Sahih

  • Read on sunnah.com (opens in a new tab)
  • Read on al-Hadees (opens in a new tab)

Words on this page

Badrبدر

The first major battle between the Muslims and Quraysh, in 2 AH. Those who fought there hold a special rank among the Companions.

Hadithحديث

A report of what the Prophet ﷺ said, did or approved, passed down through a chain of narrators.

Madinahالمدينة

The city, formerly Yathrib, to which the Prophet ﷺ migrated and where the first Muslim community was built.

Makkahمكة

The city of the Ka'bah, where the Prophet ﷺ was born and revelation began.

The full glossary

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