Al-Shifa' bint Abdullah

ProfileAl-Shifa' bint Abdullah

Al-Shifa' bint Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with her) was of the clan of Adi of Quraysh, the clan of Umar. According to the early biographies, her name was Layla, and Al-Shifa', the healer, was the name she became known by. According to the early biographies, she was one of the early Muslims, and among the first women to migrate to Madinah. According to the early biographies, she married Abu Hathmah ibn Hudhayfah, and bore a son, Sulayman. According to the early biographies, she was one of the few people in Makkah who could write, and she practised healing by ruqyah, as people had done before Islam.

Awf ibn Malik told that they had practised ruqyah before Islam, and asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ what he thought of it. He said to let him hear their invocation, and that there was no harm in ruqyah as long as it had no polytheism in it (Sahih Muslim).

Al-Shifa' told that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came in while she was with Hafsah, and said to her, "Why do you not teach this one the invocation for skin eruptions as you taught her writing?" (Sunan Abi Dawud, graded sahih).

According to the early biographies, she had a house in Madinah between the mosque and the market, and the Prophet ﷺ used to visit her there and rest at midday, and she prepared a bed for him and a covering, and kept them after his death, and her son inherited them.

According to the early biographies, Umar held her in high regard and often asked for her opinion, and used to visit her house on his way to the market. Some reports say that he put her in charge of a matter in the market of Madinah, but that is not firmly established.

According to the early biographies, her grandson Abu Bakr ibn Sulayman told that Umar had written to his governor in Iraq to send him two men, and Labid ibn Rabi'ah and Adi ibn Hatim came to Madinah. In the mosque they met Amr ibn al-As and asked him to ask leave for them to see the Amir al-Mu'minin. Amr said that they had named him well, for he was the amir and they were the believers, and he went in and greeted Umar with that title. This is one of the reports of how the title began.

According to the early biographies, she died in Madinah in the time of Umar, and he led the funeral prayer for her.

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