4 of 4 · A question the scholars discussed · Arabia
Halimah al-Sa'diyyah
Did She Accept Islam?
Because Halimah nursed the Prophet ﷺ some forty years before his mission, it is natural to ask whether she lived to believe in him. The sources do not give a clear answer.
Some scholars held that she did. Ibn 'Abd al-Barr in al-Isti'ab and Ibn Hajar in al-Isabah include her among the female Companions, relying on the reports that she came to the Prophet ﷺ after his mission and that he honoured her. Others pointed out that none of these reports is established with a sound chain, that the woman at al-Ji'ranah may have been her daughter al-Shayma', and that her acceptance of Islam is therefore not proven.
For this reason she appears here, among the people who sheltered and cared for the Prophet ﷺ, rather than among the Companions. What is certain is what she did: she took in an orphan no one else wanted, and he loved and honoured her for it as long as he lived. Her final state we leave to Allah.
An honest account says what is known, names what is disputed, and does not claim more than the sources give.
When you are unsure of something about a person, do you speak with the same care?
- Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, al-Isti'ab fi Ma'rifat al-AshabHistorical report
- Ibn Hajar, al-Isabah fi Tamyiz al-SahabahHistorical report
- Sunan Abi Dawud 5144 Graded by Al-Albani: Daif Isnaad · Muhammad Muhyi Al-Din Abdul Hamid: Daif Isnaad · Shuaib Al Arnaut: Daif · Zubair Ali Zai: DaifDa'if
What the hadith grades mean
- Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
- Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
- Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
- Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
- Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
- The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
- Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
- Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.
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