Arwa bint al-Harith

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Arwa binte al-Harith (Arabic: أروى بنت الحارث‎) was the daughter of Harith ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib.

In Nahj al-Balagha, Ali is quoted as:

I have taught you the Qur'an, clarified to you arguments, apprised you of what you were ignorant and made you swallow what you were spitting out. Even a blind man would have been able to see, and he who was sleeping would have been awakened. How ignorant of God is their leader Muawiyah and their instructor Ibn an-Nabighah.

"An-Nabighah" is the nickname of the mother of ˤAmr ibn al-ˤĀs. He is called "son of his mother" because of his mother's reputation: once Arwa binte al-Harith ibn Abd ul-Muttalib went to Muawiyah and during their conversation ˤAmr ibn al-ˤĀs intervened. Arwa said to ˤAmr:

"O son of an-Nabighah, you too dare speak, although your mother was known publicly and was a singer of Mecca? That is why five persons claimed you (as a son), and when she was asked she admitted that five people had visited her and that you should be regarded as the son of him you resembled most. You must have resembled ˤĀs ibn Wa'il and therefore you came to be known as his son."

These five persons were:

  1. A'as ibn Wa'il
  2. Abu Lahab
  3. Umayah ibn Khalaf
  4. Hisham ibn al-Mughirah
  5. Abu Sufyan ibn Harb [1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ (Ibn Abd Rabbih, al-lqd al-farid, vol. 2, p. 120; Ibn Tayfur, Balaghat an-nisa, p. 27; Ibn Hijjah, Thamarat al-awraq, vol. 1, p. 132; Safwat, Jamharat khutab al-Arab, vol. 2, p.363; Ibn Abu al-Hadid, vol. 6, pp. 283-285, 291; al-Halabi, as-Sirah (sirah?) vol. 1, p. 46). (ref), See also Nikah Ijtimah