The Girl of Ghifār and the Necklace

And then there is the woman of Ghifār, and this story is mentioned by Ibn Isḥāq. She tells her own story. She said: I came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) along with some women of Ghifār. Ghifār were Bedouins who lived close to Madīnah, and they were famous for robbing pilgrims; that was their reputation in Arabia before Islam: they would attack the pilgrims and rob them. Many of them became Muslim, and eventually all of them became Muslim, because of the barakah of the daʿwah of Abū Dharr al-Ghifārī. So a tribe with such a bad reputation — nevertheless, Allah (swt) guided them; Allah (swt) guides whomever He wills.

This woman came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), with some other women of Ghifār, and she told the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him): we want to go out with you, so that we can take care of the wounded and attend to the other needs of the Muslims. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told her, ʿalā barakat Allāh: go with the blessing of Allah. He allowed her to accompany him. And the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) not only allowed them to accompany the army; the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) had this young girl ride on the same camel with him. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was sitting on the raḥl, the saddle, and behind him was the baggage, and he had her sit on top of the baggage. She was a young girl then.

Now they arrived at their destination, and the camel knelt down, and this girl came down from the camel to see that there was some of her blood on the baggage. So she curled herself up beside the camel, and she was so embarrassed. This was her first period. She was quite embarrassed by what had happened: because of the blood on the baggage of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), she just sat there beside the camel, doing nothing. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) saw that she was upset, and he also saw the blood on the baggage. So he said: what is wrong with you? Perhaps you have had your period? She said: yes. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told her: clean yourself, and take a vessel of water and put some salt in it, and then wash the blood from the baggage — so, use water with salt, and clean the blood from the baggage.

She said that she did that, and then we took part with the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) in the battle. Now, when the booty was divided — the ʿulamāʾ say that women and children are not given a share of the booty, even if they join in the fighting, but the amīr of the army can give them what is called raḍkh: he can give them something, but it is not equal to a share; he can give them what he sees fit, but they are not counted as full shares — so she said: the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) called me, and he had a necklace with him, and he gave me the necklace and said, this is yours; and he put it around my neck with his own hands.

After that, she said, whenever she had her period, she would always wash herself with water and salt. In fact, in her will she asked that she should be washed with water and salt. And she said: by Allah, by Allah, I will never part with this necklace that was put around my neck by the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) with his own hands. And when she died, the necklace was left on her neck.

This story is left as it is, without tampering with it by commentary; it is beautiful enough to be left as it is, for the reader to draw from it the amazing examples of companionship and love that the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) had for the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) did not tell her to use salt permanently for cleansing; she did that out of love for the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him); she did it to remember the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) did not tell her to be washed with water and salt when she died; she did that because of the memories of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) that she had. And the whole story — the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) calling her and allowing her to ride with him on the same mount, this young girl; the fact that she offered her help at that young age, a Bedouin woman; the love they had for Islam, the love they had for the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), the willingness to sacrifice, the willingness to help — where are these meanings now? We have lost a lot of these meanings. And the embarrassment she felt at her first period, because she had soiled the baggage of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him); she was so ashamed of that. And the kindness of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), and the instructions he gave her. And then the fact that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) called her afterwards and remembered her — she was just one member of this large army following the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), and he called this girl by name, and he had a necklace, and he put it around her neck with his own hands. The gratitude the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) had for his Companions, and the love and attention he gave them — all of these are wonderful and amazing examples. There is a lot to learn from this story if we contemplate it and think about it. And that is how we should deal with the sīrah of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him): we should not just listen to these stories to entertain ourselves; we should learn the lessons from them.