Fatimah bint Qays

ProfileFatimah bint Qays

Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her) was the daughter of Qays. According to the early biographies, she was of the Banu Fihr of Quraysh, the sister of ad-Dahhak ibn Qays, and accepted Islam in Makkah, and was among the early women who migrated to Madinah. According to the early biographies, she was known for her good sense and her beauty, and her first husband was Abu Amr ibn Hafs of the Banu Makhzum.

Fatimah told that Abu Amr ibn Hafs divorced her finally while he was away from home, and sent his agent to her with some barley. She was displeased, and when he said that she had no claim on them, she went to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and told him. He said that she had no maintenance from him, and told her to spend her waiting period in the house of Umm Sharik, but then said that this was a woman whom his Companions visited, and told her to spend it in the house of Ibn Umm Maktum, who was blind, so that she could put off her garments there. He told her to tell him when her waiting period was over. When it was, she told him that Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan and Abu Jahm had both asked to marry her. He said that Abu Jahm did not put his staff down from his shoulder, and that Mu'awiyah was poor and had no property, and told her to marry Usamah ibn Zayd. She did not want it, and he told her again, and she married him. She said that Allah blessed her in it, and that she was envied (Sahih Muslim).

Her report was discussed among the early jurists. Umar said that they would not leave the Book of Allah and the sunnah of their Prophet ﷺ because of the word of a woman, and that they did not know whether she had remembered or forgotten, and Umar used to give a divorced woman housing and maintenance (Sahih Muslim; Jami at-Tirmidhi, graded sahih). Later jurists differed on what it showed about the rights of a woman who has been divorced for the last time.

She also narrated the hadith of Tamim ad-Dari. She told that the Prophet ﷺ sat on the pulpit and said that Tamim ad-Dari had told him of a group of his tribe who sailed the sea and came to an island, and that she was in the front row of the women when it was told (Sahih Muslim).

According to the early biographies, her brother ad-Dahhak ibn Qays became one of Mu'awiyah's commanders. According to the early biographies, many of the Successors narrated from her, among them ash-Sha'bi and Abu Salamah ibn Abd ar-Rahman.

WatchA lecture about Fatimah bint Qays

Meet them inWhere they appear in the seerah

SourcesSources for this profile