Imagine someone as majestic as our beloved RasulAllah (saw) calling you a beautiful name “Ya Ummah” out of love, or lovingly wiping your face and eyes upon seeing you tired. Imagine talking to our beloved Rasul (saw) before even his birth, being the first to cradle him upon birth and comforting him as a young child upon his mother’s death. This was the very special, yet very little known of, relationship of the Rasul (saw) and Barakah (ra).
Hers is a story worth knowing, a life to be learned much from, a bond to be envied. She came from an unknown source, her roots untraced, as a child slave from Abyssinia. She went on to become a constant companion and confidant to Aminah, the Rasul’s (saw) mother, comforting her during her husband’s absence, pregnancy, illness and death. She cried with her and for her, burying her with her own hands upon her death. She was instructed to then be as a mother to the young Muhammad (saw), a task she took to her heart. She became the same for the Rasul (saw) and Khadija (ra) eventually. She resided with them, married whom they chose and stayed with them until their deaths too. Hers was this honor alone, to have known, served and loved the Rasul (saw) from even before his birth until his death. She was among the first believers in the message and risked her life and faced persecution for Islam, such as when running errands to the house of Al-Arqum, a secret place where the Rasul (saw) taught his companions the teachings of the Deen. She tended to the wounded and thirsty in the Battle of Uhud, among other expeditions she was honored to have accompanied the Rasul (saw) to. Her husband and son were beloved to the Rasul (saw) and other muslims and were blessed martyrs in the Battle of Mutah and Hunayn, respectively. When asked how she was doing by the Rasul (saw), her answer showed nothing short of an awe inspiring dedication: “I am well, O Messenger of Allah, so long as Islam is.”
Her life exemplifies the beauty of Islam, the true Baraka that Allah bestows on His true servants. To go from an unknown Abyssinian girl child for sale, to someone that the most beloved messenger of our entire Ummah actually himself loved, is miraculous: her ranks raising because of her love for and dedication to the message of Islam. Imagine the Rasul (saw) telling you “You are blessed, Umm Ayman. Surely you have a place in Paradise.”
Such was the reward for her selfless service in life and devotion to everything surrounding the Rasul Allah (saw).
