Replace It With Something Better

Abu Salamah was wounded at Uhud. The wound seemed to heal, then reopened months later, and he died, leaving Umm Salamah a widow with young children. She had heard the Prophet ﷺ teach that no Muslim is struck by a calamity and says, "To Allah we belong and to Him we return. O Allah, reward me in my calamity and replace it for me with something better," except that Allah replaces it with something better.

When Abu Salamah died she asked herself: which of the Muslims is better than Abu Salamah — the first household to emigrate to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ? Yet she said the words anyway, not seeing how they could be answered.

Then the Prophet ﷺ sent to ask for her hand. She hesitated, explaining that she had a daughter to care for and that she was a woman of strong jealousy. He replied that he would pray for her daughter to be provided for, and pray for her jealousy to be taken away. She accepted, and later said, "Allah replaced him for me with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ" (Sahih Muslim 918).