Umamah bint Zainab


Umamah bint Abu al-'As bin al-Rabi' was a granddaughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and Khadija bint Khuwaylid. She is numbered among his companions.

Biography

She was the daughter of Abu al-As ibn al-Rabi' and of Muhammad's eldest daughter Zaynab. She had one sibling, Ali. Her maternal aunts were Muhammad's daughters Ruqayyah, Umm Kulthum and Fatimah.
When Umama was a small child, Muhammad used to carry her on his shoulder while he prayed. He used to put her down to prostrate and then pick her up again as he rose. Muhammad once promised to give an onyx necklace to "her whom I love best." His wives expected him to give it to Aisha, but he presented it to Umamah. On a different occasion, he gave her a gold ring that had arrived from the Emperor of Abyssinia.
Her aunt Fatimah requested her husband Ali on her deathbed to marry her niece Umamah because Umamah had an intense attachment and love for Fatimah's children Hasan, Umm Kulthum, Zaynab and especially Husayn. After Fatimah died in 632, Umamah married Ali. They had one son, Muhammad "the Middle", who died young.
Ali was killed in 661, and Muawiyah I proposed to Umamah. She consulted al-Mughira ibn Nawfal ibn al-Harith about this. He said that she should not marry "the son of the liver-eater " and offered to deal with the problem for her. When she agreed, he said, "I will marry you myself." This marriage produced one son, Yahya. It is uncertain whether she had any descendants beyond this.
Umamah accompanied al-Mughirah into exile at al-Safri. She died there ; but it is also said that she died in 670.

Family tree