Q&A on the Mothers of Believers

The women the Qur'an calls Mothers of the Believers are among the most consequential figures in Islamic history and among the least studied. They transmitted a large share of what we know about the Prophet's ﷺ private life and worship — there is no other source for it — and several were scholars and teachers in their own right after his death.

This book covers all eleven, in a format built for retention.

Why Question and Answer

It is an old and effective method of teaching, recognized long before it had a name, and the Prophet ﷺ used it with his Companions. It also suits a reader who wants to learn and test what he knows without the labor of formal study and research — you can work through a section, check yourself, and know where the gaps are.

The Mothers of the Believers

• Khadijah bint Khuwaylid (556–619 CE) — the first to believe, and his only wife for twenty-five years
• Sawdah bint Zam'ah (d. 54 AH / 673 CE)
• 'A'ishah As-Siddiqah bint Abu Bakr (613–678 CE) — among the greatest scholars of the first generation
• Hafsah bint 'Umar Al-Faruq (d. 45 AH / 665 CE) — keeper of the written Qur'an
• Zaynab bint Khuzaymah Al-Hilaliyyah (d. 4 AH / 625 CE) — called the mother of the poor
• Umm Salamah, Hind bint Abi Umayyah (d. 62 AH / 681 CE) — whose counsel at Hudaybiyah is famous
• Zaynab bint Jahsh Al-Asadiyyah (d. 20 AH / 641 CE)
• Juwayriyah bint Al-Harith (d. 56 AH / 675 CE)
• Umm Habibah, Ramlah bint Abi Sufyan (d. 44 AH / 664 CE)
• Safiyyah bint Huyayy (d. 50–52 AH / 670–672 CE)
• Maymunah bint Al-Harith Al-Hilaliyyah (d. 61 AH / 680 CE)

May Allah be pleased with them all.

Who It Is For

Muslim women looking for examples with substance behind them. Islamic schools, weekend academies and homeschooling parents — the format works directly as classroom material and quiz content. Study circles. Anyone who could name three of the eleven and would rather be able to name all of them.

Related Reading

• Q&A on the Rightly Guided Caliphs — the four caliphs, in the same format
• The Sealed Nectar — the biography of the Prophet ﷺ in full
• The Rights & Duties of Women — the standing Islam gives a woman, and what it asks of her