Maymunah bint al-Harith ππππ of Prophet Muhammad
BIOGRAPHY
Maymunah bint al-Harith al-Hilaliyah (Arabic: Ω ΩΩ ΩΩΨ© Ψ¨ΩΨͺ Ψ§ΩΨΨ§Ψ±Ψ« Ψ§ΩΩΩΨ§ΩΩΨ©, translit. MaymΕ«nah bint al-αΈ€Δrith al-HilΔlΔ«yah) was a wife of Muhammad. Her original name was Barrah, but Muhammad changed it to Maymuna.
Family
Her father was al-Harith ibn Hazn from the Hilal tribe in Mecca. Her mother was Hind bint Awf from the Himyar tribe in Yemen. Her full sister was Lubaba the Elder. Her paternal half-sisters were Layla (Lubaba the Younger), Huzayla and Azza. Her maternal half-siblings were Mahmiyah ibn Jazi al-Zubaydi, Asma bint Umays (a wife of Abu Bakr), Salma bint Umays (a wife of Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib) and Awn ibn Umays. Ibn Kathir also mentions a tradition that Zaynab bint Khuzayma (a wife of Muhammad) was another maternal sister.
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Among the Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) wives, Maymunah bint Al-Harith (May Allah be pleased with her) was determined, faithful, and amiable.
Maymunah was determined
Maymunah (RA) knew what she wanted and went after it. After she had been divorced and then widowed, she knew she needed companionship. And there was no man better than the Messenger of Allah (PBUH). So, she sought his hand in marriage.
Maymunah (RA) went to Umm al Fadl (RA) to talk to her about her desire to marry the Messenger (PBUH), knowing that this would put things into motion. And it did just that. Umm al Fadl then spoke to Abbas (RA) about Maymunah’s aspirations.
Then, Abbas immediately approached the Messenger (PBUH) with Maymunah’s (RA) offer of marriage and her proposal was accepted. Maymunah did not wait around for someone to approach her with the intentions of marriage. She took it upon herself to seek the best of men, the one she truly wanted to be closest to.
In a similar fashion, Maymunah (RA) would take loans. Once she borrowed a very large amount of money and someone asked her, “’How will you pay it back?”’, She said that the Prophet (pbuh) had said, ‘If one has the intention to pay it back, Allah (S.T.) himself pays off the debt.’” [i]
This anecdote possibly describes the source of Maymunah’s (RA) determination. She knew she wanted good in this life and the next and she trusted in Allah (SWT) to provide for her. So, she went after what she thought was best for her in the dunya and akhira (this life and the hearafte).
Maymunah was loyal
Aisha (RA) said about her, “Among us, she had the most fear of Allah and did the most to maintain ties of kinship.” [ii]
Aisha (RA) also narrated that “Maimunah (RA) was the most virtuous and God-fearing and most considerate in treating her relatives well. She used to pray in the Mosque of the Prophet as she had heard that ‘the prayer offered in that Mosque is thousand time better than other Mosque except the Holy “Haram” in Mecca where it is equivalent to 1,00,000 prayers.” i
Aisha (RA) twice narrated that her cowife, Maymunah (RA), was extremely keen to keep up with her family. As a member of the tribe of Quraysh having moved to Medina, she continued to pay close attention to her family even those ties in Mecca.
Not only was she loyal to her people, whether they were Muslim or not, whether they lived near her or not, she was also loyal to the laws of Allah (SWT): {[…] and fear Allah through Whom you demand your mutual (rights), and (do not cut the relations of) the wombs (kinship) […]} (Quran 4:1)
Maymunah was amiable
After her marriage to the Prophet (PBUH), Maymunah (RA) was given a home adjacent to the Prophet’s Masjid in Medinah. All the mothers of the believers welcomed her and were very kind toward Maymunah.
But this love and kindness was also extended by her to others. It is narrated by many sources that Maymunah (RA) never had any disputes with her cowives.
Not much is narrated about Maymunah (RA). Perhaps this is because the Prophet (PBUH) died three years after they were married. She was practically still a newlywed when she was widowed for the second time.
She lived to see her 80s, but little is narrated about her outside of her marriage to the Prophet (PBUH). But what we do know about her through her life as a companion and a wife of the Messenger tells us that she was a stellar example of loyalty, affability, and resolve.
[i] http://www.quransearchonline.com/HTML/Biography/ilyref/maimonaraz.html
[ii] http://www.usislam.org/IslamicYouth/Muhammad/maymuna_bint_alharith.htm
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