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Muḥammad's Bond with the Women
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2009
Extract
The acceptance by the early women converts of Islam and of Muḥammad as the Apostle of the new monotheistic religion is expressed usually by a stereotyped phrase, which takes the form of “so-and-so became resigned to God and made a bond with the Apostle of God”. At a later date a convert was merely required to repeat the shahādah, but Wensinck has shown that probably this creed was only evolved after Muḥammad's death. In the very early days the mere fact that a woman attended the prayer meetings held by Muḥammad was no doubt sufficient for her to be considered as a member of his community. This being so, what then was the significance of the bond made between the women converts and Muḥammad ? It was possibly made in order to give a more formal aspect to their conversion and to make solemn confession of their belief in one God and their allegiance to Muḥammad as his Apostle, as also to include their acceptance of his ordinances.
- Type
- Papers Contributed
- Information
- Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , February 1940 , pp. 185 - 197
- Copyright
- Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1942
References
page 185 note 1 “aslamat fulānah bint fulān wa bāya‘at rasūl allahi.”
page 185 note 2 Wensinck, A. J., The Muslim Creed, Cambridge, 1932, p. 6.Google Scholar
page 185 note 3 b. S., p. 1. Dhikr ma bāya‘a alaihi rasūl allahi an-nisa’.
page 186 note 1 b. S., p. 2, 22 b. H., p. 408, 23. All references are to the sixth volume of the Musnad of Ibn Ḥanbal.
page 186 note 2 b. S., pp. 1, 10; 17 b. H., pp. 357, 5; 10; 14.
page 186 note 3 b. S., p. 186, 2. In the Iṣābah there is no reference to Abū Bakr buying Umaimqah and her daughters and freeing them (iv/456, Nos. 97, 98).
page 186 note 4 b. S., pp. 35, 161.
page 187 note 1 b. S., pp. 4, 13 172, 12 21.
page 187 note 2 b. S., p. 171, 25.
page 187 note 3 b. S., p. 233. The traditions referring to the bond are not included in the biographical notice and in Ibn Hanbal only indirect reference is made to Asmā' making the bond (b. Ḥ., pp. 453, 6; 454, 14). It must be pointed out that many traditions, originating with her name, are also related on the authority of others. It is apparent that there was considerable confusion between her and Asmā' bint 'Umais, the wellknown Shi'ite traditionist.
page 187 note 4 b. S., p. 6, 5.
page 187 note 5 Khul., p. 143.
page 187 note 6 b. S., p. 6, 9 sq.
page 187 note 7 Khul., pp. 22, 93.
page 187 note 8 b. S., p. 6, 17.
page 187 note 9 Khul., p. 13. Ibrāhīm b. Ismā'īl b. Abī Ḥabībah.
page 187 note 10 See supra, p. 185.
page 188 note 1 b. S., p. 5, 15.
page 188 note 2 b. S., pp. 298, 301–4.
page 188 note 3 Cf. b. S., pp. 153, 9; 301, 13; 303, 4.
page 188 note 4 Ya‘qūb b. Muḥammad (b. Abī Ṣa'ṣa'ah). His name is to be found in the index Wellhausen, Muhammed in Medīna.
page 188 note 5 Buhl., Muhammeds, Das Leben, Leipzig, 1930, p. 187. Muir, The Life of Mohammad, p. 130.Google Scholar
page 188 note 6 Buhl., p. 187. Muir, op. cit., p. 118.
page 188 note 7 Muir, , op. cit., p. 187, Note 1Google Scholar. In the first edition of this work Muir gives a reference to Hishāmī, p. 157. I think this must refer to Ibn Hishām, but I can find no basis for this statement in the chapters dealing with the meetings at ‘Aqabah in Wustenfeld’s edition of his work.
page 188 note 8 b. S., p. 5, 5.
page 188 note 9 He received the laqab of ‘āram on account of this (Khul., p. 304) and Ibn Sa'd frequently refers to him as 'Āram b. al-Fadl. The correct name of the preceding traditionist is al-Walīd b. ‘Abdallah b. Jamī’ (Khul., p. 357).
page 189 note 1 b. Ḥ., p. 356, 13.
page 189 note 2 b. S., p. 176, 19.
page 189 note 3 b. S., p. 176, 18.
page 189 note 4 b. S., pp. 177, 2 7, 24 179, 10, 14 182, 7.
page 189 note 5 Acta Orientalia, vol. iii, 1924. Zur Kuran exegesis. F. Buhl, p. 102.Google Scholar
page 190 note 1 It is of interest to note that Umm ‘Umārah, who may have made this bond, actually did accompany Muḥammad on his expeditions and is said to have personally defended him at the Battle of Uḥud (b. S., p. 301, 21 seq).
page 191 note 1 b. S., pp. 247, 21 251, 24 299, 17 306, 7 321, 7; 329, 20.
page 191 note 2 b. S., p. 329, 20.
page 191 note 3 b. S., p. 247, 21.
page 191 note 4 b. S., pp. 6, 19 246 17.
page 191 note 5 b. S., pp. 251, 24 6, 21.
page 191 note 6 b. S., p. 299, 17.
page 191 note 7 b. Ḥ., p. 373, 1.
page 191 note 8 Qur'ān, 37/149.
page 191 note 9 See supra, p. 18
page 192 note 1 Qur'ān, 5'38.
page 192 note 2 b. Ǣ., pp. 36, 15 17 104, 5
page 192 note 3 b. Ḥ., p. 80, 26
page 192 note 4 Khul., p. 286.
page 192 note 5 b. S., p. 192, 11
page 192 note 6 He is mentioned in the Khulāṣah (p. 414) but there is no biographical notice of him, though in a note it states that his name was Yaḥyā b. ‘Abdallah and that his name is to be found in the Mīzān of Ibn Hajar. In the Mīzān there is a traditionist Yaḥyā b. ‘Abdallah b. ‘Ubaidallah b. Abī Mulaikah who is said ‘to have judged a dream to fit his interpretation of dreams’ (vi/764, No. 5221).
page 193 note 1 b. S., p. 192, 16.
page 193 note 2 b. Ḥ., p. 329, 8.
page 193 note 3 Lammens, H., Études sur le règne du Calife Omaiyade Mo'awia ler, Beyrout, 1906–8, p. 77, note 3Google Scholar. References are found to various works in which the subject of female infanticide is introduced. See also Smith, W. Robertson, Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia, additional note c, p. 291.Google Scholar
page 194 note 1 Qur'ān, 6/137, 17/31, 16/58, 81/8 sq., 60/12. According to Nöldeke Schwally, Sūra 81 belongs to the first Makkan period, Sūra 17 to the second, Sūras 6 and 16 to the third period. In Sūra 81/9 the actual term used for the female infant buried alive is found, namely al-mau'ūdah.
page 194 note 2 b. S., p. 3, 15.
page 194 note 3 Iṣābah, iv/890, No. 1306. Usd v/590.
page 194 note 4 See, supra, p. 187.
page 194 note 5 b. S., p. 4, 25.
page 194 note 6 al-Bukhārī rejected his traditions and he was said to have imagined a great deal (Khul, p. 226).
page 195 note 1 b. S., pp. 3, 23; 4, 1.
page 195 note 2 He is mentioned in the Mīzān of Ibn Ḥajar, but there is no information given about him (vi/45, No. 173).
page 195 note 3 Khul., p. 121.
page 195 note 4 b. S., p. 3, 20 b. Ḥ., p. 408, 8.
page 195 note 5 See, supra, p. 188, note 9.
page 195 note 6 b. S., p. 3, 2 b. Ḥ., p. 409, 6.
page 195 note 7 b. Ḥ., p. 407, 14.
page 195 note 8 Khul., p. 284.
page 195 note 9 See note 4. It is apparent from other traditions that Muḥammad objected to an extravagant display of grief, though it is unlikely that he ever made a general statement prohibiting the practice of niyāḥah
page 196 note 1 b. S., pp. 4, 5 3, 5.
page 196 note 2 Khul., p. 32, including note 8.
page 196 note 3 Khul., p. 61.
page 196 note 4 See supra, p. 186. There is a curious tradition from Umm ‘Atiyah, with a sound isnād, in Ibn Ḥanbal (p. 408, 21), which would appear to be a combination of the two other traditions related on her authority (see supra, p. 195). It states that a woman who came to Muḥammad clasped her own hand while he clasped his.
page 196 note 5 b. S., pp. 1, 8; 2, 3; 2, 11; b. Ḥ., pp. 153, 15; 154, 1; etc.
page 196 note 6 b. S., pp. 1, 3; 1, 4; 1, 6; 2, 4; 2, 6.
page 196 note 7 b. Ḥ., pp. 193, 12 329, 24 and many other similar traditions are to be found in the Musnad.
page 197 note 1 b. S., pp. 5, 23; 25
page 197 note 2 There is no biographical notice of as-Saudā' in Ibn Sa'd, while in the Isābah there is a notice based entirely on this one tradition (iv/649, No. 600), but in the notice of Sawadah or Saudah bint ‘Asam b. Khālid … b. ‘Adī b. Ka'b al-Quraishiyyah, who was also called Saudā', it is mentioned that the tradition referring to dyeing the fingers came from her (No. 598). Umm ‘Āṣim, the next link, is mentioned in the Khulaṣah (p. 429), but there is no mention that she learned from Saudā’ or that she transmitted to Nā'ilah al-Kufiyyah, concerning whom I can find no information except that she is mentioned in aṭ-Ṭabarī