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The Firsts (Sahaba Stories) | The Forerunners of Islam
Salma (ra) and Ubaydullah ibn Abu Rafi (ra): A Legacy of Serving the Ahl al-Bayt | The Firsts
She was the midwife in the births of the Prophet ﷺ’s children and grandchildren.
This was just one of the unique ways that Salma (ra), a freed-slave and the wife of Abu Rafi al-Qibti (ra), served the Prophet ﷺ’s family.
And she raised her own son Ubaydullah ibn Abu Rafi (ra) to shine in Islamic history as a teacher of the Prophet ﷺ’s descendants.
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings.
Now enter his wife Salma, his wife Salma, and I'm just going to pair this all, put this all together as, you know, think of this lesson of the family of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
So you have Abu Rafi'. Abu Rafi' was initially the slave of who before he was freed by the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam? I just want to make sure that you all remember.
Al-Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib, radiallahu ta'ala anhum. Salma, Salma radiallahu ta'ala anha, and we don't know her parents' name, so she is Salma.
Salma was the slave of Safiyyah bint Abdul-Muttalib. Safiyyah bint Abdul-Muttalib way before.
And we'll talk about what she witnessed, and it's truly remarkable what she witnessed. Safiyyah bint Abdul-Muttalib, the aunt of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, is also the mother of which famous companion?
Does anyone remember? Someone is whispering it, but I want to hear it. Az-Zubayr, radiallahu ta'ala anhu. So Safiyyah bint Abdul-Muttalib is the mother of Az-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, radiallahu ta'ala anhu.
What is her role? So you have these two people that start off as being enslaved in the broader household. The aunt and the uncle of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
Salma is the midwife of pretty much all of the births that are going to happen in the house of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So you know, back then they didn't have hospitals. Everyone knows that, right?
Salma was the one who would go and she would deliver the children that were born into that house. Subhanallah, like that in and of itself, when you think about it, is pretty incredible.
So she was the one who delivered all of the children of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, from Khadijah, radiallahu ta'ala anha.
All of them. One by one from Khadijah, radiallahu ta'ala anha. So she's very close to the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, to Khadijah, radiallahu ta'ala anha.
And particularly, we'll see that she was there when Fatima az-Zahra, radiallahu ta'ala anha, was born. So she's the one who delivered all of the children of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
On top of that, if you remember the story of when Hamza, radiallahu ta'ala anhu, embraced Islam. How did Hamza, radiallahu ta'ala anhu, embrace Islam?
Hamza, radiallahu ta'ala anhu, was out on one of his hunting journeys. And every time Hamza comes back to Mecca, everyone goes and they chase after him and like they want to hear about his latest expedition.
Hamza is not interested in religion. He's not interested in it. Hamza, radiallahu ta'ala anhu, was doing his own thing.
And when they come to Hamza and Safiyyah, who was closest to Hamza in age and in relationship, extremely close to Hamza.
Safiyyah, radiallahu ta'ala anha, she sends Salma to tell Hamza what Abu Jahl did to the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
So Salma is actually the one who goes to Hamza and tells Hamza, radiallahu ta'ala anhu, that, did you hear what Abu Jahl did to your nephew? What did Abu Jahl do to my nephew?
Abu Jahl, he humiliated, he hurt the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, in front of the Kaaba. Right? And that's when Hamza, radiallahu ta'ala anhu, marches straight to the Kaaba.
He goes right up to Abu Jahl and smacks him. And he says, "I am on the religion. You have a problem with the religion of Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam? I'm on the religion of my nephew. He knows nothing about Islam. He doesn't even know if he's sincerely converting to Islam.
But he said, 'I'm on his religion. You have a problem with him? You have a problem with me?' Then he goes to the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and he explains to the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, "Ya Rasulallah, O Muhammad, I don't know what just happened. And I don't know if I sincerely embraced the religion or not.
But it was just a moment that I got caught up in. I know there is a God. I know that there is something. I feel that presence. But what do I do?" And the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, told him to pray to Allah 'azza wa jal to guide him to what's right. And then iman settled into the heart of Hamza, radiallahu ta'ala anhu.
So imagine Salma, radiallahu ta'ala anha. Salma is the one that told Hamza, radiallahu ta'ala anhu, about what happened. On top of that, when she was freed by the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam,
because there's a difference here because Safiyyah traveled with. Safiyyah bint Abdul-Muttalib traveled to Medina. She traveled with the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So she was freed by the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, very early on.
And on top of that, and this is where you'll start to see why I say that Mariya al-Qibtiya story will come into play. She is the one who delivered the son of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, in Medina, Ibrahim.
And she is the one who brought the good news to the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And she delivered Al-Hassan and Al-Husayn as well. So the same midwife of all of the children of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam,
and then the grandchildren of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, as well. And subhanallah, what Allah 'azza wa jal would bless her with, and this is such a remarkable view of history,
Salma, radiallahu ta'ala anha, was also the one that would serve as the nurse of Fatima, radiallahu ta'ala anha, at the time of her death. And then she would be the one to wash the body of Fatima, radiallahu ta'ala anha, as well. So imagine she brought Fatima, radiallahu ta'ala anha, into this world,
and she washed Fatima, radiallahu ta'ala anha, at the time of her burial as well. So this is a remarkable woman that witnessed all of these births successively.
And especially when we talk about the story of Mariya al-Qibtiya, radiallahu ta'ala anha, there's a very special view of history that comes specifically from this midwife of the household of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
And she narrates just two ahadith from the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And we don't know much about where she died or when she died,
but her time, subhanallah, was contained in such a blessed time in such a blessed way. Now, how do we bring these two together? One person who was going around and who's with the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, through these moments,
the one who's pitching the tent, the one who's delivering debts and charity and collecting on behalf of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and a messenger of the Messenger, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and his wife is the midwife of all the children of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
And then when Mariya, radiallahu ta'ala anha, comes and Ibrahim is born, they're around and they're taking care of all these affairs for the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Allah 'azza wa jal blessed them with multiple children.
And I'm not going to take too long with this, but it just shows you, subhanallah, the continuation or how these people went from being looked down upon in society to being so embedded in the prophetic legacy that as khutbas of Jumu'ah are being given around the world,
they're getting some of the ajr. Allah 'azza wa jal blessed them with several children. They had Ubaidullah, they had Al-Mughira, they had Ali,
they had their own Al-Fadl, so they named after Al-Abbas, they had Al-Hassan, they had Rafi', they had a Zainab, so they had multiple children between Abu Rafi' and Salma.
But Allah blessed them with an alim of a child. And that is Ubaidullah ibn Abi Rafi'. So I mentioned Abu Rafi' has 40 narrations.
Salma has two, may Allah be pleased with them. Ubaidullah ibn Abi Rafi' is one of the frequent narrators in our hadith tradition.
He attached himself just like his father to the family of Ali, radiallahu ta'ala anhu,
and he became the scribe of Ali, radiallahu ta'ala anhu. So just like Abu Rafi' used to deliver messages on behalf of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the legacy remains in Ahl al-Bayt, in the family of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
Ubaidullah became the scribe. And then Ali, radiallahu ta'ala anhu, appointed him as distributor of Zakat and Sadaqah. So he became the katib of Ali, radiallahu ta'ala anhu,
and he became a distributor of charity and a collector of charity as well. He then narrates from Ali, radiallahu ta'ala anhu, multiple ahadith, multiple narrations.
And then he narrates from Abu Hurayrah, radiallahu ta'ala anhu, multiple narrations. So he was gifted with the ability to write and to collect, and he dedicated himself to ilm, and elevated himself basically to an 'alim. And then Allah 'azza wa jal would make him the teacher of Zayn al-Abidin, Ali ibn al-Husayn, Ja'far as-Sadiq, Muhammad al-Baqir.
Some of the most consequential figures that come from the household of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam,
they take Ubaidullah ibn Abi Rafi' as their teacher, and they would narrate from him. And the reason why I mention this, subhanallah, is that embedded in over a hundred of the narrations
from the family of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, is this link.
And so you have a people that went from being slaves to being freed slaves to being embedded into the legacy of scholarship to the point that you don't even know,
but the scholars of hadith will know as they are quoting the isnad, that it goes back to this intimate relationship that they had with the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And one of the reasons why this son, Ubaidullah ibn Abi Rafi' as well,
became such a famous scholar and narrator, and as Ibn Hajar says, kathir al-hadith, thiqah, reliable, considered very strong in hadith, and plentiful, prolific in his narration of hadith,
is that he had children that also became scholars as well. So he bore Muhammad ibn Ubaidullah ibn Abi Rafi', Abdullah ibn Ubaidullah ibn Abi Rafi',
Al-Fadl, Ja'far, Ali, 'Awn, Uthman. So he bore himself, radiallahu ta'ala anhu, many children that went on to become scholars and went on to deliver the tradition as well. So this family of freed slaves, truly subhanallah,
are the Ahl al-Bayt of the Ahl al-Bayt of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Insha'allah ta'ala, next time we will delve into the life of Mariya al-Qibtiya, radiallahu ta'ala anha,
and that way when you see these names of Abu Rafi' and Salma come back, then insha'allah ta'ala it will give you a fuller picture
of this household that's being built around the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. JazakumAllahu khayran, wa assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. of this household that's being built around the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam.
JazakumAllahu khayran, wassalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

























































































































































































