Mother of the Believers

A wife of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), daughter of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, and the most prolific woman transmitter of hadith in Islam. The Prophet died in her apartment. She taught and issued legal rulings in Medina for more than four decades after him.

Hafsa bint Umar, daughter of Umar ibn al-Khattab and a wife of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), held the written compilation of the Qur'an made under Abu Bakr. Uthman borrowed it from her for the standardisation of the text. She was literate, transmitted hadith, and died in 45 AH.

Khadijah bint Khuwaylid (d. 619 CE) was the first wife of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) and the first person to believe in his prophethood. A woman of independent wealth in the Meccan caravan trade, she reassured him after the first revelation and took him to Waraqah ibn Nawfal.

Maymuna bint al-Harith was the last woman Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) married, during the compensatory pilgrimage of 7 AH. Sister of the wife of al-Abbas and maternal aunt of Abdullah ibn Abbas, she transmitted hadith on ritual purification and died at Sarif.

Sawda bint Zam'a was a wife of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) and one of the Mothers of the Believers. An early Muslim who emigrated to Abyssinia, she married the Prophet after Khadijah's death. Sahih al-Bukhari records her giving her allotted day and night to Aisha.

Umm Salama, born Hind bint Abi Umayyah of the Makhzum clan, was a wife of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him). At Hudaybiyyah her counsel resolved the impasse when the Companions hesitated to comply with the treaty. She was the last of the Prophet's wives to die.

Zaynab bint Khuzayma was a wife of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), known by the epithet Umm al-Masakin, the Mother of the Poor. Married in 3 AH, she died within months, one of only two of the Prophet's wives to die during his lifetime.