Amina bt. Wahb: Difference between revisions

| Full Name = Amina bt. Wahb

| Religious Affiliation = Monotheist

'''Amina bt. Wahb''' (Arabic: {{iarabic|آمنة بنت وهب}}) (d. 46 years before [[Hijra]]/576), the [[prophet (s)]]'s mother and one of the most respectful ladies of [[Quraysh]]. Amina got married with [['Abd Allah b. 'Abd al-Muttalib]] in 54 or 53 years before Hijra. Despite the short period of their marriage, she got pregnant with 'Abd Allah and gave birth to Muhammad in 52 years before Hijra. When Muhammad was 6 or 4, Amina passed away in an area called [[al-Abwa']] while coming back from [[Medina]].

Amina was born in [[Mecca]].<ref>ʿĀyisha ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, ''Āmina mādar-i Piyāmbar'', p. 74.</ref> His father, Wahb, was a great member of [[Banu Zuhra]] tribe, and his ancestor, Abd Manaf b. Zuhrah was his cousin's peer, Abd Manaf b. Qusay. They are called Manafayn for respect. The female ancestor of his father, 'Atika, Awaqas b. Murrat b. Hilal al-Salimah's daughter, one of the third 'Atika whom the prophet was proud of being her offspring and said: "I'm the offspring of 'Awatik from Banu Salim."<ref>ʿĀyisha ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, ''Āmina mādar-i Piyāmbar'', p. 74.</ref>

Her mother was Barrah. Her mother's ancestor was 'Umm Habib, daughter of 'Asad b. al-'izz b. Qusay and the mother of her was Barrah bt. 'Awaf.<ref>ʿĀyisha ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, ''Āmina mādar-i Piyāmbar'', p. 81.</ref>

The prophet (s) was proud of his lineage and said: "[[God]] moved me from pure waists to pure uteruses and divided into branches which I was put in the best ones of them."

== Getting Married with 'Abd Allah ==

She was the best girl in [[Quraysh]] in terms of lineage and character when getting married with [['Abd Allah b. 'Abd al-Muttalib]].<ref>Ibn Hishām, ''al-Sīra al-nabawīyya'', vol. 1, p. 156.</ref> Before 'Abd Allah proposed to Amina, some women such as Nufil b. Asad's daughter, Fatima bt. Marr, and Liyli 'Udwiyyah had proposed to him.<ref>See: Ibn Athīr, ''al-Kāmil fī l-tārīkh'', vol. 2, p. 8.</ref> According to Bandarli, when Amina got married with 'Abd Allah, many [[Mecca]] women became heartbroken.<ref>ʿĀyisha ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, ''Āmina mādar-i Piyāmbar'', p. 103.</ref> Their ceremony lasted for three days and nights. During this period, 'Abd Allah was in bride's house on the basis of the tribe tradition.<ref>Nuwayrī, ''Nahāyat al-arab'', vol. 16, p. 57.</ref>

"He gave up the ghost to death angel, away from uproar, deep inside the tomb.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

According to some historical reports, 'Abd Allah passed away a little time after prophet's birth.<ref>Āyatī, ''Tārīkh-i Piyāmbar-i Islām'', p. 41.</ref> Some people think 'Abd Allah's early death after his survival from being sacrificed represents that it was doomed for 'Abd Allah to marry Amina, therefore the prophet would be born.<ref>ʿĀyisha ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, ''Āmina mādar-i Piyāmbar'', p. 128.</ref>

Sawda, daughter of Zuhrah Kalabiyya, who was the fortune teller of [[Quraysh]] said to Bani Zuhrah: "There is a woman among you who warns from bad things or she will give birth to a prophet; show me your girls." They did so. Afterwards, she talked to each of them, and said about Amina:"She either is a prophet or will give birth to one."<ref>ʿĀyisha ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, ''Āmina mādar-i Piyāmbar'', p. 144.</ref>

Amina told [[Muhammad]] about her pregnancy: I didn't notice my pregnancy and did not feel like being heavy like other pregnant women. Someone, in dream or reality, came to me and asked: Do you think you are pregnant? I replied I didn't know. That person said: You are pregnant of a baby superior to all people in this 'ummat.<ref>Nuwayrī, ''Nahāyat al-arab'', vol. 16, p. 64.</ref>

Another narration is: Amina said when pregnancy, someone told me you have the baby superior to all people of this 'ummat; when you give birth to him say:"Aya'izuhu Bi al-Wahid Min Sharr Kull Hasid.", and name him Muhammad.<ref>Ibn Hishām, ''al-Sīra al-nabawīyya'', vol. 1, p. 158.</ref>

She gave birth to him in [[Rabi' I 17]], [['Am al-Fil]]. [[Sunnis]] believe it was in [[Rabi' I 12]].<ref>Āyatī, ''Tārīkh-i Piyāmbar-i Islām'', p. 43.</ref> The news of his birth made [[Banu Hashim]] very happy so that [[Abu Lahab]] set free his slave Thabiyyah Aslamiyah who brought his cousin's birth news.<ref>ʿĀyisha ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, ''Āmina mādar-i Piyāmbar'', p. 150.</ref> [['Abd al-Muttalib]] named him Muhammad. When [[Quraysh]] asked about his grandson's name, he replied:"I want him to be praised in heaven and earth."<ref>ʿĀyisha ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, ''Āmina mādar-i Piyāmbar'', p. 153.</ref>

=== Nurse ===

Amina was seeking for a nurse to accept Muhammad after giving birth to him. He was an orphan and was not wealthy. Initially, no one accepted him. At last, [[Halima al-Sa'diyya]], who no one had given her baby to milk until the sunset of that day, and had not accepted the nursery of [[Muhammad (s)]], accepted him.

After two years of milking to Muhammad, she brought the baby to Amina, but asked her to let her take Muhammad to the desert and keep him; since he had some blesses for them and protected her from cholera which was spread in [[Mecca]]. Amina consented to her request.<ref>Ibn Hishām, ''al-Sīra al-nabawīyya'', vol. 1, p. 162-164.</ref> Finally, Halima al-Sa'diyya brought back Muhammad to his mother in 6th year of 'Am al-Fil.<ref>Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, ''al-Istīʿāb'', vol. 1, p. 29.</ref>

== A Trip to Medina and Death ==

Amina took her offspring to visit [['Abd Allah]]'s uncles to [[Medina]] in 7th year of 'Am al-Fil. Muhammad's father uncles were from Banu Najjar. She got sick when returning from Medina and passed away in [[al-Abwa']]. 'Umm Ayman brought Muhammad back to Mecca and five days later they arrived to Mecca.<ref>Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, ''al-Istīʿāb'', vol. 1, p. 30.</ref>

== Prophet's Request for Forgiveness ==

Some people say the [[Prophet (s)]] decided to do [[hajj]] 'umra while coming back from [[ghazwa Tabuk]]. Therefore, he set off for [[Mecca]]: When he arrived in his mother's shrine, he asked [[God]] for the permission to pray for her forgiveness, but his request was rejected and this [[verse]] was sent to him:"And the request of forgiveness of [[Ibrahim]] for his father was only because of a promise he had made to him. But when it became apparent to Ibrahim that his father was an enemy to [[Allah]], he disassociated himself from him. Indeed was Ibrahim compassionate and patient."<ref>Qurʾān, 9:114.</ref>

Also, it is narrated from Ibn Mas'ud that once the prophet (s) visited Muslim's tombs and we followed him. He sat before a tomb and shaded tears there and prayed. We cried along with him and prayed with his supplication. He asked the reason of our cry. We replied that we are inspired by your cry. He said: This tomb belongs to my mother Amina. God let me visit it, yet I'm not allowed to pray for her forgiveness, and this verse was sent to me:" It is not for the Prophet (s) and those who have believed to ask forgiveness for the polytheists, even if they were relatives, after it has become clear to them that they are companions of Hellfire." This is the reason of my cry.

In [[Shi'a]] view, these [[hadith]]s are not authentic, because imami shi'a unanimously believes in faith of [[Abu Talib]], Amina bt. Wahb, [['Abd Allah b. 'Abd al-Muttalib]] and the entire prophet's ancestor to [[Adam]].<ref>Āyatī, ''Tārīkh-i Piyāmbar-i Islām'', p. 41.</ref> This was pointed out in hadiths: "[[Jibra'il]] came to the [[prophet (s)]] and said: Muhammad! Your God sends his regards to you and states: I've made hell's fire forbidden for the waist (sulb) which descended you, the uterus which was pregnant of you, and the one who brought you up. That waist belongs to 'Abd Allah b. 'Abd al-Muttalib, that uterus is Amina bt. Wahb's, and the one who brought the prophet up was Abu Talib, according to Ibn Faddal's hadith, and Fatima bt. Asad.", [[Imam al-Sadiq (a)]] stated.<ref>Kulaynī, ''al-Kāfī'', vol. 1, p. 446.</ref>

In addition to this, Shi'a has raised some problems to the mentioned hadiths. For instance, [[al-'Allama al-Amini]] says: Didn't the prophet know he and his followers could not pray for idolaters' forgiveness and mediate for them, even after sending many verses in Tabuk day? So, how he asked for the permission to pray for his mother's forgiveness and to mediate for her? Did he think his mother is not counted as human? Has this [[hadith]] been made to contaminate the holy prophet's reputation or view his mother an idolater?<ref>Amīnī, ''al-Ghadīr'', vol. 8, p. 18.</ref> He writes in the following: Some have interpreted requesting for forgiveness praying for the corpse.<ref>Ṭabarī, ''Jāmiʿ al-bayān'', vol. 11, p. 33.</ref> In this case, it would be in harmony with the mentioned hadiths.<ref>Amīnī, ''al-Ghadīr'', vol. 8, p. 19-20.</ref>

*Āyatī, Muḥammad Ibrāhīm. ''Tārīkh-i Piyāmbar-i Islām''. Edited by Abū l-Qāsim Gurjī. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Dānishgāh-i Tehrān, 1387 Sh.

*ʿĀyisha ʿAbd al-Raḥmān bt. al-Shāṭī. ''Āmina mādar-i Piyāmbar''. Translated by Sayyid Muḥammad Taqī Sajjādī. Third edition. Tehran: Muʾassisa-yi Intishārāt-i Nabawī, 1379 Sh.

*Ibn Athīr, ʿAlī b. Muḥammad. ''Al-Kāmil fī l-tārīkh''. Beirut: Dār al-Ṣādir, 1385 AH.

*Ṭabarī, Muḥammad b. Jarīr al-. ''Jāmiʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān''. Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifa, n.d.

 

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