A Unique Nikaah (Pious Woman) ~ Part Four

Devotion to Deen (Sayyidah Ummu Habeebah radhiyallahu ‘anha– Part Four) Abu Sufyaan (radhiyallahu ‘anhu), the father of Ummu Habeebah (radhiyallahu ‘anha), had accepted Islam on the occasion of the conquest of Makkah. He passed away many years later, during the khilaafat of ‘Uthmaan (radhiyallahu ‘anhu). Three days after the news of Abu Sufyaan’s (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) demise was broken to Ummu Habeebah (radhiyallahu ‘anha), she took perfume and applied it to herself saying, “I have no need to apply perfume. (However, I am doing so because) I heard Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) mention, ‘It is not permissible for any woman who believes in Allah Ta‘ala and the last day to mourn for more than three days, except upon her husband, as (in the case where her husband passes away,) she will mourn over him for four months and ten days.’” (Saheeh Muslim #3725) ‘Amr bin Aws (rahimahullah) narrates: When ‘Ambasah bin Abi Sufyaan (rahimahullah) (the brother of Ummu Habeebah [radhiyallahu ‘anha]) was in his final illness, he narrated to me the following hadeeth which would bring him great happiness. He said, “I heard Ummu Habeebah (radhiyallahu ‘anha) say that she heard Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) mention, ‘Whoever performs twelve rakaats of salaah (i.e. the sunnah-e-muakkadah salaah before and after the various fardh salaahs which equal twelve rakaats in total) during the day and night, then on account of performing these twelve rakaats, a home will be built for him in Jannah.’ After narrating this hadeeth, Ummu Habeebah (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) said, ‘I never left (performing) these twelve rakaats since I heard them from Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam).’” When narrating this hadeeth to me, ‘Ambasah (rahimahullah) similarly mentioned, “I never left (performing) these twelve rakaats since I heard them from Ummu Habeebah (radhiyallahu ‘anha).” (Saheeh Muslim #1694 Lessons: 1. Sharee‘ah has allowed a person to mourn over the demise of their near and dear ones. However, when the deceased is not one’s husband, then it is not permissible to mourn for more than three days. Hence, although Ummu Habeebah (radhiyallahu ‘anha) was greatly grieved over the demise of her beloved father (radhiyallahu ‘anhu), as soon as the three day mourning-period terminated, she immediately applied perfume to make it clear that she was no longer in mourning. This highlights the manner in which the lives of the Sahaabah (radhiyallahu ‘anhum) completely conformed to the laws of sharee‘ah in all aspects. Furthermore, as they were responsible for conveying Deen to the Ummah, they ensured that they clearly showed us the boundaries of Deen. 2. Today if a message makes its rounds on social media saying that there is a special on plane tickets, so many people will flock to the site that in many cases, the server crashes and the site goes offline. Ironically, many of these people had no intention to travel until they became aware that tickets were going cheap. Sahaabah (radhiyallahu ‘anhum), on the other hand, were not motivated by holidays, touring, shopping and entertainment. Rather, their motivation was Jannah. Hence, when they heard of the immense reward for punctually performing the Sunnah salaah – or any other good deed – they immediately brought it into practice and remained steadfast upon it until their demise.