3 of 3 · d. 50 AH · 670 CE · Madinah
Juwayriyah bint al-Harith رضي الله عنها
A Life of Worship
Juwayriyah loved voluntary fasting. Once the Prophet ﷺ came to her on a Friday and found her fasting. He asked whether she had fasted the day before; she said no. Would she fast the next day? No. "Then break your fast," he told her (Sahih al-Bukhari 1986). Through her, the Muslims learned that Friday is not to be singled out for fasting on its own — even love of worship has a shape the Sunnah gives it.
She outlived the Prophet ﷺ by some four decades, living quietly in Madinah and narrating what she had learned from him. She died in 50 AH, by the most common report, and was buried in al-Baqi'. The young woman who came to Madinah a captive, the chief's daughter of a defeated tribe, left it as a Mother of the Believers.
Juwayriyah's devotion was guided by the Sunnah: the best worship is not only abundant but rightly shaped.
Is there an act of worship you do out of love that you should check against the Sunnah?
- Sahih al-Bukhari 1986 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-KubraHistorical report
- al-Dhahabi, Siyar A'lam al-Nubala'Historical report
- Ibn Hajar, al-Isabah fi Tamyiz al-SahabahHistorical report
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.
Create a free account to keep your place as you go. Create a free account · Sign in