4 of 4 · 10–23 AH · the Farewell Pilgrimage to her death · Muzdalifah and Madinah
Sawdah bint Zam'ah رضي الله عنها
She Kept to Her House
On the Farewell Pilgrimage, Sawdah, a large and slow-moving woman, asked the Prophet ﷺ for permission to leave Muzdalifah before the crowds, and he allowed her (Sahih al-Bukhari 1681). 'A'ishah later wished she had asked the same.
After that pilgrimage, Sawdah did not travel for Hajj again. She is reported to have said that she had performed Hajj and 'Umrah, and would now stay in her house as Allah had commanded the Prophet's wives.
Her hands stayed open. Ibn Sa'd reports that when 'Umar sent her a bag of silver coins, she asked what it was, then divided it all among the poor. She died in Madinah toward the end of 'Umar's caliphate, and was buried at al-Baqi'.
She knew her limits, used the ease the Sunnah gave her, and spent what came to her on others.
Where could you accept an ease Allah has given you, and spend what you save on someone else?
- Sahih al-Bukhari 1681 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih Muslim 1290Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-KubraHistorical report
- al-Dhahabi, Siyar A'lam al-Nubala'Historical 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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