Sumayya (r.anha)

Hz. Sumayya is the first woman in the history of Islam who sacrificed her life in the way of Allah and was martyred. She attained the rank of martyrdom and became the first martyred woman.

• Sumayya was Abu Hudhayfa’s slave. 

Abu Hudhayfa married her off to Yasir, Who came from Yemen and who took refuge in him. The great Companion Ammar bin Yasir was born out of this marriage.

• Each member of this lucky family accepted Islam in the beginning. 

They were inflicted unbelievable torture after that. They did not have anybody to protect them. Therefore, the merciless polytheists inflicted the worst tortures on them; the polytheists made them lie on the hot stones and sand when the sun was the hottest.

Once, the polytheists were inflicting torture on them. The Prophet saw them. She gave the following glad tiding to this lucky family, who underwent torture just because they were Muslims:

“O family of Yasir! Be patient! O family of Yasir! Be patient! Your reward is Paradise. O family of Yasir! Be patient!”

Yasir asked in reliance, only in order to learn,

“O Messenger of Allah! Will time pass like this all the time?” 

The Prophet prayed Allah as follows:

“O Allah! Grant mercy and pardon the family of Yasir!” 

This was enough to console them.

A few days later, Yasir, who was very weak, could not bear it any longer. He passed away, becoming the first martyr among men.

Hz. Sumayya was fretted a lot because her husband was martyred and because she and her children were in the hands of the ferocious polytheists.

She realized that she could not put with these inhumane tortures any longer. Once, Abu Jahl came and tortured her. He forced her to exit Islam. However, he could not make her return to the darkness of unbelief. Then, he insulted this old woman and said,

“You believed in Muhammad because he is handsome.” 

Hz. Sumayya could not put up with this insult and uttered bad words for Abu Jahl. Abu Jahl got furious. He stuck his spear into this blessed woman and martyred her. Then, he tortured her children.

Finally, Hz. Ammar got rid of their torture. He went into the presence of the Messenger of Allah. He told him about what had happened. The Prophet opened his hands sadly and prayed as follows:

“O Allah! Do not punish anyone from Yasir family with hellfire.”

Ammar (r.a.) took part in the Battle of Badr. Abu Jahl was killed in this battle. The Prophet said to Ammar,

“Allah Almighty killed the murderer of your mother.”( Tabaqat, 3: 346, 249; al-Isaba, 4: 334; Usdu’l-Ghaba, 5: 481 )