4 of 4 · d. 44 AH · 664 CE · Madinah
Umm Habibah — Ramlah bint Abi Sufyan رضي الله عنها
A House in Paradise
Umm Habibah heard the Prophet ﷺ say that whoever prays twelve voluntary units of prayer in a day and night, a house will be built for them in Paradise. "I have never left them since I heard that from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ," she said (Sahih Muslim 728). Through her, this hadith reached the Muslims, and it is still among the most practised of sunnahs.
Years later, news came that her father Abu Sufyan had died. On the third day she called for perfume and touched it to her cheeks, saying she had no need of it, except that she had heard the Prophet ﷺ say that a believing woman may not mourn a death for more than three days — except for a husband, four months and ten days (Sahih al-Bukhari 1280). Even in grief, she followed the Sunnah.
She died in Madinah in 44 AH, during the caliphate of her brother Mu'awiyah. The biographers report that as she was dying she called 'A'ishah and Umm Salamah, and asked forgiveness for anything that had passed between them as co-wives, and forgave them in turn.
Umm Habibah held to what she learned from the Prophet ﷺ for the rest of her life — in her daily prayers, in her grief, and at her death.
Is there one sunnah you could take on today and never leave?
- Sahih Muslim 728 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih al-Bukhari 1280 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-KubraHistorical report
- al-Dhahabi, Siyar A'lam al-Nubala'Historical report
- Ibn Hajar, Fath al-BariHistorical 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.
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