The Migration of Umm Salamah

Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her) narrates this account. She says: "We came back from Abyssinia, and my husband wanted to go again to Abyssinia, but then he heard that Madīnah is the new land of hijrah, that there are some Muslims there." So he decided to take his family and go to Madīnah, and that was one year before al-ʿAqabah — so he was one of the earliest to go. She said that he mounted her on a camel and placed her son on her lap, and they were ready to leave Makkah, but then her family came to her and said, "We're not going to allow you to go with your husband. We're not going to allow him to take you with him to that foreign land." So they pulled her away from her husband. When Banū al-Asad, the family of Abū Salamah, saw that, they came in and said, "We're not going to allow you to take the child," and they took the child with them. So now Abū Salamah was separated from Umm Salamah, and they were both separated from their son — the family of Umm Salamah kept Umm Salamah, the family of Abū Salamah kept the child, and now the three were separated. So Abū Salamah ended up making hijrah alone, while Umm Salamah and her son were separated from him in Makkah.

Umm Salamah said, "I would go out of my home every day to the valley and sit on a rock and cry for hours," and she did that on a daily basis, and that continued for about a year. This woman, this mother, missing her husband, missing her child, said she would go out every day in the morning and just cry. Then one of her relatives from Banū al-Mughīrah — this was her uncle — saw the condition she was in, and said to her family: "Are you not having any mercy and sympathy on this woman? Allow her to go and join her husband." So they finally agreed, and they told Umm Salamah, "You're free to leave." When the family of the husband knew that, they gave her back her son, and said, "Now you can join your husband." So Umm Salamah picked up her child and went towards Madīnah. Now she was alone, had no one with her; she mounted a camel with her son and left towards Madīnah, travelling alone.

When she reached al-Tanʿīm, which is not far away from Makkah, a few kilometres outside of Makkah, she met ʿUthmān ibn Ṭalḥah. When he saw her, he said, "Daughter of Abū Umayyah, where are you heading?" She said, "I am going to Madīnah." He told her, "Do you have anybody to accompany you?" She said, "No, I am alone." He said, "Well, I will accompany you. It's not appropriate to leave you alone on this travel." ʿUthmān ibn Ṭalḥah was a mushrik, an unbeliever, but he saw this woman, felt sympathy for her, and wanted to help her out. He was guarding her and protecting her on this journey between Makkah and Madīnah. Umm Salamah says: "I swear, I was never in the company of any Arab more honourable than him. When we made a stop, he would make my camel kneel, and then he would move away until I had dismounted. Then he would come back and take the camel and tie it, and then he would leave and go and sleep under a tree, far away from me. The next day in the morning, he would bring my camel, prepare the saddle, and then he would call me to come and mount, and he would leave; and when I was on the camel, he would come back, and then he would guide me through this trip." She said he continued doing that until they reached the outskirts of Madīnah, and they saw Qubāʾ in the distance. He pointed to Qubāʾ and said, "See that village over there? That's where your husband is." And he said, "Now you're on your own."

Umm Salamah comments and says she knows of no other family in Islam who suffered like that of Abū Salamah, and she swears she never had a more honourable companion than ʿUthmān ibn Ṭalḥah. She was impressed by the nobility ʿUthmān ibn Ṭalḥah showed — bearing in mind the animosity between the Muslims and non-Muslims at that time. For ʿUthmān ibn Ṭalḥah to go out of his way and accompany a woman who was leaving Makkah — and that was supposed to be forbidden, one was not supposed to leave Makkah for Madīnah — he went out of his way and supported her and helped her in this honourable fashion. She liked that, and she appreciated it.

ʿUthmān ibn Ṭalḥah later became Muslim, he and Khālid ibn al-Walīd and ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, at the same time. He is also from the family which were the keepers of the keys to the Kaʿbah, Banū ʿAbd al-Dār. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) kept the keys with them, and the keys are still with them today — they are the ones who hold the keys to the Kaʿbah until this day and time.