Umm Salamah (Hind bint Abi Umayyah): Wives of the Prophet ﷺ

Tribe: Quraysh (Banu Makhzum)
Married: About 4 AH (c. 626 CE)
Before this marriage: Widow of Abu Salamah, an early emigrant, with young children
Children with the Prophet ﷺ: None
Died: Between about 59 and 62 AH (c. 680 CE); most scholars hold she was the last wife to die
Buried: Al-Baqi', Madinah

Hind bint Abi Umayyah, known as Umm Salamah, was among the first emigrants; the sirah books record that she and her husband Abu Salamah emigrated to Abyssinia and then to Madinah. When he died, she said the supplication she had heard from the Prophet ﷺ: 'Truly we belong to Allah and to Him we return. O Allah, reward me in my calamity and replace it with something better.' She wondered who could be better than Abu Salamah, yet Allah gave her the Messenger ﷺ (Sahih Muslim 918a).

After her waiting period Abu Bakr proposed to her and she declined; then the Prophet ﷺ sent Umar to propose on his behalf. She replied that she was a woman of strong jealousy, had young children and had none of her guardians present. He answered that he would ask Allah to remove her jealousy, that her children would be cared for, and that none of her guardians, present or absent, would dislike it (Sunan an-Nasa'i 3254).

She is remembered for her wise counsel at Hudaybiyyah. After the treaty, the Prophet ﷺ told the Companions three times to sacrifice and shave, and none stood up. He went to Umm Salamah, who said: go out, speak to no one, sacrifice your animal and call your barber. When he did so, the people rose and followed (Sahih al-Bukhari 2731).

Umm Salamah was also present when Gabriel came to the Prophet ﷺ in the form of a man; she took him for Dihyah al-Kalbi, and later learned who the visitor had been (Sahih al-Bukhari 3634). Most scholars hold that she was the last of the Mothers of the Believers to die, around 60 AH.