3 of 3 · Sha'ban 9 AH · 630 CE · Al-Baqi', Madinah
Umm Kulthum bint Muhammad رضي الله عنها
Tears at the Graveside
Umm Kulthum died in 9 AH, after the expedition to Tabuk. Anas ibn Malik said: we were present at the burial of a daughter of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and he was sitting by the grave, and I saw his eyes shedding tears (Sahih al-Bukhari 1285). The commentators identify this daughter as Umm Kulthum.
He asked who among them had not been with his wife the night before, and Abu Talhah said he had not, so the Prophet ﷺ told him to go down into the grave and lay her to rest. Of his four daughters, only Fatimah now remained.
The Prophet ﷺ wept openly at his daughter's grave; tears of grief are a mercy, not a lack of faith.
Do you allow yourself to grieve, and do you allow others to?
- Sahih al-Bukhari 1285 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Ibn Hajar, Fath al-BariHistorical report
- Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-KubraHistorical 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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