Salma Umm-ul-Khair

Salmā bint Sakhar (Arabic: سلمى بنت صخر‎‎) was the mother of Abū Bakr, the first Caliph.

Biography

Salmā was the daughter of Sakhar ibn Amr (Arabic: صخر‎‎), from the Taym clan of the Quraysh, and the wife of her cousin ʻUthmān ibn-Amīr (later known as Abū Qahafa). Her by-name was Umm Al-Khayr ("Mother of Goodness").[1]

Salma and Abu Quhafa had several sons who did not survive infancy. When Abu Bakr was born in 573,[1] Salma took him to the Kaaba and prayed to the gods: “If this one is granted immunity from death, then bestow him upon me!” Abu Bakr was therefore known as Atiq (“exempted”), while his subsequent surviving brothers were given the related names Muataq and Muaytaq.[2]

Salma was an early convert to Islam. She was among those who were “brought to the house of Arqam”[3] to meet Muhammad, i.e., after 614 but before the Hijra.[4]

She died during the Caliphate of Abu Bakr, between 632 and 634.[5]

Legacy

Sunnis honour her as Umm-ul-Khair "Mother of Goodness" (Arabic: أم الخير‎‎), referring to Abū Bakr, whom Sunni Muslims honour as one of The Ten Promised Paradise among Muhammad's early companions, the Sahāba.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Jalal ad-Din al-Suyuti (1881). Tarikh al-Khulafa(The History of the Caliphs). Calcutta: The Asiatic Society. p. 29.
  2. ↑ Jalal ad-Din al-Suyuti (1881). Tarikh al-Khulafa(The History of the Caliphs). Calcutta: The Asiatic Society. p. 27.
  3. ↑ Ibn Hajar. Al-Isaba, vol. 8.
  4. ↑ Muhammad ibn Ishaq (1955). Sirat Rasul Allah (The Life of Muhammad). Oxford University Press. p. 117.
  5. ↑ Ibn Hajar. Al-Isaba, vol. 4.


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