The Story of Umm Qirfa

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Umm Qirfa was an old Arab woman contemporaneous to Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. She belonged to a pagan tribe named Banu Fazara at Wadi Al-Qurra. This old woman who was also a chief of her clan was brutally killed when Muhammad and his followers raided her tribe and overpowered them. The incident took place almost six years after Muhammad’s Hijra (هِجْرَة Migration) to Medina in 622 AD.

Ibn Ishaq, the first authentic biographer of Muhammad gives us the details in his Sirat Rasul Allah:

Zayd B. Haritha’s raid on Banu Fazara and the Death of Umm Qirfa

Zayd also raided Wadi-l-Qurra where he met Banu Fazara and some of his companions were killed; he himself carried wounded from the field. Ward b. Amr b. Madash one of B. Sad b. Hudhayl was killed by one of B. Badr whose name Sa’d b. Hudhaym. When Zayd came he swore that he would use no ablution until he raided B. Fazara; and when he recovered from his wounds the apostle sent him against them with a force. He fought them in Wadi-al-Qura and killed some of them. Qays b. al-Musahhar al-Yamuri killed Mas’ada b. Hakama b. Malik b. Hudhayfa b. Badr and Umm Qirfa Fatima was taken prisoner. She was a very old woman, wife of Malik. Her daughter and Abdulla b. Mas’ada were also taken. Zaid ordered Qays b al-Musahhar to kill Umm Qirfa and he killed her cruelly.

Ibn Ishaq 980

“And he killed her cruelly”. The cruel method used by the holy warriors of Muhammad to kill Umm Qirfa is described in Al-Tabari:
“By putting a rope into her two legs and to two camels and driving them until they rent her in two....”

Allah’s Messenger sent Zayd to Wadi Qura, where he encountered the Banu Fazarah. Some of his Companions were killed, and Zayd was carried away wounded. Ward was slain by the Banu Badr. When Zayd returned, he vowed that no washing should touch his head until he had raided the Fazarah. After he recovered, Muhammad sent him with an army against the Fazarah settlement. He met them in Qura and inflicted casualties on them and took Umm Qirfah prisoner. He also took one of Umm’s daughters and Abdallah bin Mas’adah prisoner. Zyad bin Harithah ordered Qays to kill Umm, and he killed her cruelly. He tied each of her legs with a rope and tied the ropes to two camels, and they split her in two.

Tabari Vol.8:Page.96

Ibn Ishaq continues:

Then they brought Umm Qirfa’s daughter and Mas’ada’s son to the apostle. The daughter of Umm Qirfa belonged to Salama b. Amr b. al-Akwa who had taken her. She held a position of honor among her people, and the Arabs used to say, “Had you been more powerful than Umm Qirfa you could have done no more”. Salama asked the apostle to let him have her and he gave her to him and he presented her to his uncle Hazn b. Abu Wahb and she bare him Abdul-Rahman . Hazn.

Ibn Ishaq 980

As can be seen in Ibn Ishaq, Umm Qirfa held a high position among her people, perhaps more like Khadijah bint Khuwailid, Muhammad’s first wife. “No man or woman with more power could have done any more than Umm Qirfa” as quoted by Ibn Ishaq was what Arabs used to say then. What was the reason behind Muhammad and his 'holy' warriors killing such a respected and high ranking old woman in one of the most brutal ways imaginable?

The answer is simple; Muhammad could not tolerate a woman enjoying a leadership role in any society, this much about his personal views towards women is made clear in Sahih Bukhari 9:88:219. This old woman became a target for this very reason and as some sources attest, Muhammad had ordered his people to display the old woman’s decapitated head throughout the streets of Medina. This was meant as a lesson to the Arabs and their forthcoming generations that a woman should never hold a high position in society.

Now, let us see whether the horrifying account of the murder of Umm Qirfa is authentic or a mere fabrication as many Muslim apologists claim. The first to report this murder was Ibn Ishaq followed by Tabari, two historians which Muslims sometimes view with suspicion when it casts Muhammad in a negative light. The highly edited version of Ibn Ishaq (by Ibn Hisham) does contain the mention of the murder but not the brutal way in which she was killed. It is Tabari who exposed the brutality of her killing. And not surprisingly, Sahih sources (Bukhari and Muslim) are mute in regards to the killing of Umm Qirfa. Saifur Rahman al-Mubarakpuri, a modern day biographer of Prophet Muhammad has also pointed out the Umm Qirfa incident in his work “The Sealed Nectar”. This book is highly regarded among the worlds Muslims and its Arabic version was awarded first prize by the Muslim World League, at the first Islamic Conference on Seerah, following a worldwide competition for a book on the Sirah Rasul Allah (life of Muhammad) in 1979.

An expedition led by Abu Bakr As-Siddiq or Zaid bin Haritha was despatched to Wadi Al-Qura in Ramadan 6 Hijri after Fazara sept had made an attempt at the Prophet’s life. Following the morning prayer, the detachment was given orders to raid the enemy. Some of them were killed and others captured. Amongst the captives, were Umm Qirfa and her beautiful daughter, who was sent to Makkah as a ransom for the release of some Muslim prisoners there. Umm Qirfa’s attempts at the Prophet’s life recoiled on her, and the thirty horsemen she had gathered and sustained to implement her evil scheme were all killed.

Saifur Rahman al-Mubarakpuri/ The Sealed Nectar: Page 152

The account found in “The Sealed Nectar” is derived from a Sahih Muslim Hadith in regards to the incident. Though somewhat descriptive, the Sahih Muslim Hadith does not mention the fate of Umm Qirfa. A case of selective ignorance on the Hadith compiler’s part since the horrible killing puts Islam’s credibility at stake.

Those who conveniently cast doubt on Ibn Ishaq and Tabari do not doubt the authenticity of Sahih Muslim Hadiths. And for the same reason not many Muslim apologists can deny the validity of the accounts of the raid as given by Ibn Ishaq and Tabari if they are found to be similar. An evaluation of the Sahih Muslim hadith is therefore necessary to confirm whether the account (of the killing of Umm Qirfa) is factual or not:

It has been narrated on the authority of Salama (b. al-Akwa') who said: We fought against the Fazara and Abu Bakr was the commander over us. He had been appointed by the Messenger of Allah. When we were only at an hour's distance from the water of the enemy, Abu Bakr ordered us to attack. We made a halt during the last part of the night to rest and then we attacked from all sides and reached their watering-place where a battle was fought. Some of the enemies were killed and some were taken prisoners. I saw a group of persons that consisted of women and children. I was afraid lest they should reach the mountain before me, so I shot an arrow between them and the mountain. When they saw the arrow, they stopped. So I brought them, driving them along. Among them was a woman from Banu Fazara. She was wearing a leather coat. With her was her daughter who was one of the prettiest girls in Arabia. I drove them along until I brought them to Abu Bakr who bestowed that girl upon me as a prize. So we arrived in Medina. I had not yet disrobed her when the Messenger of Allah met me in the street and said: Give me that girl, O Salama. I said: Messenger of Allah, she has fascinated me. I had not yet disrobed her. When on the next day, the Messenger of Allah again met me in the street, he said: O Salama, give me that girl, may God bless your father. I said: She is for you. Messenger of Allah! By Allah, I have not yet disrobed her. The Messenger of Allah sent her to the people of Mecca, and surrendered her as ransom for a number of Muslims who had been kept as prisoners at Mecca.

Sahih Muslim 19:4345

There is slight variation in the Sahih Muslim account, but this is to be expected. We see in the above hadith, Abu Bakr, the first Caliph of Islam leading the raid in place of Zaid bin Harith, the person we find in Ibn Ishaq and Tabari. Leaving that aside, the account is extremely accurate, as a raid on Banu Fazara had indeed taken place on the order of Muhammad. Sahih Muslim attests to its authenticity. There was also an old woman among the raided tribe, as Sahih Muslim hadith testifies “Among them was a woman from Banu Fazara. She was wearing a leather coat”. As we read in Sahih Muslim, this woman, her daughter and many others were fleeing the raid and had they reached a nearby mountain, their lives would have been spared but an arrow from Salama bin Al-Akwa (one of the Muslim raiders) decided their fate. The woman was unable to escape with her daughter and all were taken as captives. Falling silent on the fate of the old woman who tried to escape, Imam Muslim instead reports what happened to her daughter. It was a horrid fate that awaited the beautiful girl as Muhammad bought her from the person who possessed her and surrendered the ill-fated as ransom for a number of Muslims who had been kept as prisoners in Mecca.

So, what happened to the mother of this daughter who also had been taken as prisoner? Sahih sources stay mute on the old woman’s fate, so there has to be an alternative account to rely on for those who seek the truth. We have two historians reporting she had been killed by the followers of Muhammad. If Muslims accept the account given in Sahih Muslim, they are in no position to reject the killing of Umm Qirfa since there is no logical reason to dismiss the murder accounts found in Ibn Ishaq and Tabari as the remainder of the accounts given by them match that which has been given by the authentic sources.

Sahih Muslim hadith brings up the fact there was an old woman among the captives of Banu Fazara. Her daughter was sold by Muhammad into slavery. This much is clear, But what happened to the mother of the unfortunate girl? Ibn Ishaq and Tabari answer that question; a noble woman of high rank who did nothing wrong other than adhere to her traditional beliefs had been brutally killed by Islam’s holy warriors.

Comics

• The story of Umm Qirfa - Indonesian language (archived), http://web.archive.org/web/20090912064912/http://kisahummqirfa.wordpress.com/ 

Motion Comics

Youtube (English)

Youtube (Indonesian)

See Also

• Violence Against Women - A hub page that leads to other articles related to Violence Against Women
• The Genocide of Banu Qurayza

External Links

• Report: Jewish woman murdered, cut in two in Iran - Israel Hayom, November 29, 2012