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Prophethood House
Mother of the believers Hafsa Bint Umar
Her Family :
She was married to Khunis Ibn Hudafa Ibn Qays as-Sahami who was from Quraish.
He emigrated twice : to Abyssinia and Madina. He fought in Badr and Uhud. In Uhud he
was fatally wounded and died shortly after. She was eighteen by then.
The marriage :
Umar then went to Othman Ibn Affan, whose wife, Ruqqaya, the Prophet's daughter died.
Othman apologized and said that he could marry at that time.
Umar was devastated and broken hearted, he went to the Prophet, peace and
blessings be upon him, to tell him what happened. When the Prophet, peace
and blessings be upon him, heard the story he smiled and said :
"Hafsa will be married to someone who is better than Uthman and Uthman
will be married to someone better than Hafsa."
Umar was overwhelmed with Joy because he understood directly that the Prophet, peace
and blessings be upon him, was proposing to his daughter. He knew later that Abu-Bakr, may
Allah be pleased with him, did not answer him because the Prophet, peace and blessings be
upon him, told him that he would propose to Hafsa and Abu-Bakr could not reveal the Prophet's
intention before the Prophet himself tells Umar.
By this marriage, the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, strengthened the ties between
two of his closest Companions, the two who would become the first two rightly guided caliphs after his death.
He was now married to the daughter of Abu Bakr, A'isha and to the daughter of Umar, Hafsa.
The Prophet married Hafsa in the month of shaban in the third year of Hijra.
Later Uthman married Um Kulthum the other daughter of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.
In the house of Prophethood :
Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) immediately put on his cloak and went directly to his daughter's house.
"Is it true that you argue with the Messenger of Allah?" he asked.
So Umar went round to visit Umm Salama, to whom Umar was related in order to try and influence
Hafsa's behavior through her.
Some sources say that the Prophet divorced Hafsa with a single divorce
and that Umar was heart broken when this happened and began to throw dust on his head.
Then the Prophet took her back after Gabriel, peace be upon him, had descended and said to him.
"Take Hafsa back. She fasts and prays and she will be your wife in Heaven."
Hafsa and the holy Qur'an :
When Uthman eventually became the khalif, he instructed several
written copies of the Qur'an to be made so that they could be sent to the main centers
of the now rapidly expanding Muslim empire, and it was the copy in Hafsa's keeping
that was used, after it had been meticulously checked for its accuracy by referring to
all the other written records of the Qur'an and to all the Muslims who knew the Qur'an by heart.
Her death :
She died in 47 AH at the age of sixty-three. May Allah be pleased with her.
She was the daughter of Umar Ibn Elkhattab. The great man in the history of Islam and one of the
closest companions of the prophet.
Umar was depressed for his young daughter whose fate was to become a widow in
such a young age. He asked Abu-Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, to marry her but
Abu-Bakr did not answer.
(reported by al-Bukhari)
Hafsa and Aisha, may Allah be pleased with them were close friends.
One day, while speaking to Hafsa's mother Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "I think I shall so and so."
Whereupon his wife replied, "But it would be better if you did such and such."
"Are you arguing with me, woman?" said Umar
"Why not?" she answered. "Your daughter keeps arguing with the Messenger of Allah until she
upsets him for the whole day."
"Indeed I do." She replied.
Umar was just about to chastise her for what he considered were bad manners, when
the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came into the room and
would not allow him to even touch her.
"I wonder at you, Ibn Khattab," she said, after she had listened to him. "You have interfered in
everything. Will you now interfere between the Messenger of Allah and his wives?"
Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, when relating this incident, continued, "And she kept
after me until she made me give up much of what I thought proper."
Like A'isha, Hafsa memorized the entire Qur'an by heart. The written copy of the
Qur'an which was recorded by Zayd ibn Thabit on Abu Bakr's instructions, and
which was then given to Umar for safekeeping, was then given by Umar to Hafsa to
look after.
Hafsa lived with the Prophet in Medina for eight years, may Allah bless him and grant him
peace and lived on for another thirty four years after his death, witnessing with joy the victories
and expansion of Islam under her father's guidance, and with sorrow the troubles that beset the
Muslim community after the murder of Uthman.
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