MB07-Umm Habibah Ramlah (ra), Bint Abi Sufyan (ra)

Umm Habibah -01/03

Umm Habibah Ramlah (ra), bint Abi Sufyan (ra)

Pointing towards Amir Mu’awiyah ( ra), and Umm Habibah (ra), Allah’s Messenger (saw), said, “By Allah, I wish by heart that she, you and I might drink the clean wine in Paradise together.”

The story of the four lost friends

Waraqah bin Naufil, Uthman bin Haweerath bin Asad, Zaid bin Amr bin Nafeel and Obaidullah bin Jahash were four friends who often used to get together and discuss how this terrible evil could be eradicated from their people.

They could not talk about it openly, so they used to have their sessions late at night when the entire world was silent and asleep.

The Quraish, lost their way to idolatry and these four friends decided they had to find the way to pure and prestine religion of Ibrahim (as), for themselves

The four friends find their separate ways

The first friend Waraqah bin Nawfal, cousin of Khadijah (ra), had given up idol worship right from barbaric times and had given up eating the flesh of animals sacrificed in the name of idols. He knew the Torah and the Injil by heart.

The second friend Uthman bin Haweerath bin Asad, traveled to Syria, and worked as a missionary to spread Christianity. He became a close friend of the Roman Emperor Caesar and was finally elevated to the papal position

The third friend, Zaid bin Amr bin Nafeel stopped worshipping idols, eating dead animals and drinking their blood and hated eating sacrificed animals. He often talked of the pure Abrahamic religion. He too died before the Prophet’s (saw), messenger ship

The fourth friend Obaidullah bin Jahash, regrettably, fell into such doubts and perplexity that he vacillated between right and wrong. He married the beautiful intelligent and educated daughter of the Quraish chieftain, Abu Sufyan Sakhr bin Harb. Her name was Ramlah bint Abu Sufyan.

Ramlah (ra), bint Abu Sufyan accepts Islam.

It was around this time in Makkah that Muhammad (saw) rejected the idols and invited people to worship the one true God and also proclaimed he was Allah’s (swt) last Prophet and Messenger

The leader of the Quraish were furious and the community was split into two factions
Some people became Muslims while the others became sworn enemies of Islam and Muslims
But the intelligent and wise daughter of Abu Sufyan, Ramlah accepted Islam and so did her (ra), husband Obaidullah bin Jahash

Obaidullah apostates from Islam and passes away

The whole family of Obaidullah was fortunate to have obeyed the call to Islam, but while in Abyssinia Obaidullah had the misfortunate to reject Islam after having accepted it.
He became an apostate and heretic and turned to Christianity
He started drinking and died on the same belief. However, his wife Ramlah (ra), remained faithful to Islam, in fact her love and support for it grew stronger. And ultimately she joined the ranks of the Mother of the Believers
Her (ra), life is a study in loyalty and steadfastness, in her love for the truth.

Ramlah (ra), bint Abu Sufyan accepts Islam

Abu Sufyan Sakhr bin Harb was a chief of the Quraish, who led them in many of their wars
Besides Ramlah (ra), he had two sons, Yazid and Mu’awiyah.
Both of them were renowned for their services to Islam.
Ramlah (ra),accepted Islam when the Muslims were facing a lot of opposition and were being cruelly persecuted
Abu Sufyan was a very powerful man, but he was helpless in the matter of his daughter
Ramlah (ra), who was a frail girl
In spite of all his efforts Abu Sufyan could not make his daughter recant

Ramlah and Obaidullah migrate to Abyssinia

The Prophet (saw) decided that the staunch supporters of Islam had taken enough torture and oppression from the Quraish, and he ordered them to leave for Abyssinia, where the ruler was known for his kindness and hospitality to refugees from tyrannical rule .Ramlah (ra), and her husband Obaidullah bin Jahash were among the second group of migrants who left for Abyssinia .There Ramlah (ra), gave birth to a girl who they named Habibah: hence Ramlah was now known as Umm Habibah (ra), So the days passed swiftly for her as she kept busy seeing to the upbringing for her little daughter; all her free time was spent in prayer and meditation

Umm Habiba’s (ra), husband Obaidullah apostates

One night Umm Habibah dreamt that her husband’s face was mutilated.
She woke up panic stricken, but was too nervous to talk about her dream to her husband.
A few days later he told her that he originally had been a Christian and then converted to Islam, but since coming to Abyssinia he gave a great deal of thought and finally came to the conclusion that Christianity offered the best system of beliefs, hence he was reverting and going back to the fold of Christianity .He advised her to do the same and become a Christian
Immediately it struck Ramlah that this was what her dream meant
The mutilation of her husbands face meant that he had lost his identity as a Muslim.
Then she told him about her dream, hoping that this would instill the fear of Allah( ) in his heart.
But he was too far gone on the downward road.

Obaidullah passes away as an apostate

Obaidullah was so lost that not only his face but his heart had been mutilated as well.
He was not bothered in fact he started drinking alcohol and was so addicted that he was drunk for most of the time .Umm Habibah (ra), was now growing desperate, worrying about the future of both her daughter and herself .She prayed to Allah (swt), to give her the strength to remain steadfast in her faith. Obaidullah died due to heavy drinking, he was in a sorry state of kufr at that time

Umm Habibah’s (ra), life as a widow in Abyssinia

Umm Habibah (ra), was relieved, of coarse, but was she to do now, how was she to survive? Only two activities kept her occupied- the upbringing of her daughter and her prayers
She would sometimes get together with the other Muslim ladies in Abyssinia to talk of the latest developments.

Ruqayyah (ra), the daughter of the Prophet (saw), Asma bint Omais (ra), and Laila bint Hashmah (ra), were the great ladies with whom she would spend her free time, however these ladies also soon returned home. Years passed and Al-Madinah was attacked and battles continued to be fought .The treaty of Hudaibiyah was signed, and the Quraish thought that this unequal treaty restrained the growing power and influence of Islam