At a glance
The Mothers of the Believers- Dates
- Married the Prophet ﷺ c. 5 or 6 AH
- Who
- Daughter of the chief of the Banu al-Mustaliq, whose marriage led to many captives being freed
- Stages
- Building Madinah
ProfileJuwayriyah bint al-Harith
Juwayriyah (may Allah be pleased with her) was the daughter of al-Harith, chief of the Banu al-Mustaliq, a tribe living between Makkah and Madinah. Accounts differ on whether the expedition against the tribe took place in 5 or 6 AH. The tribe lost the encounter, and Juwayriyah was among those taken captive.
She fell to the share of Thabit ibn Qays (may Allah be pleased with him), and agreed with him on a sum to buy her freedom, as a captive could under the arrangements of the time. She did not have the money, so she went to the Prophet ﷺ and asked for help. He settled the sum and offered her marriage, and she accepted. When the Companions learned that the Banu al-Mustaliq were now related by marriage to the Prophet ﷺ, they freed the captives they were holding from the tribe, about a hundred households in all. Aishah is reported to have said that no woman was a greater blessing to her people than Juwayriyah.
The Banu al-Mustaliq went on to accept Islam. Juwayriyah is remembered as a devout woman who spent long hours in remembrance of Allah. One morning the Prophet ﷺ left her sitting in her place of prayer after Fajr and came back late in the morning to find her still there. He taught her a few short words of praise which, he said, would outweigh everything she had said since he left. That remembrance, reported in Sahih Muslim, is still recited by Muslims in their morning and evening adhkar.
Meet them inWhere they appear in the seerah
More on How to Muslim
SourcesSources for this profile
The books, lectures and maps behind this page are listed on our Sources page.