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| Ruqayyah bint Muhammad | |
|---|---|
| Name | Ruqayyah bint Muhammad |
| Native name | رقية بنت محمد |
| Birth date | c. 601 CE |
| Birth place | Mecca |
| Death date | c. 624 CE |
| Death place | Medina |
| Resting place | Al-Baqi' |
| Spouse | Uthman ibn Affan |
| Father | Muhammad |
| Mother | Khadijah bint Khuwaylid |
| Religion | Islam |
Ruqayyah bint Muhammad was a daughter of Muhammad and Khadijah bint Khuwaylid, known in early Islam as one of the Prophet's daughters who lived through the formative period of the Hijra and the establishment of the Muslim community in Medina. Her life intersects with prominent figures of the Quraysh, the Ansar, and the early caliphal period that included leaders such as Abu Bakr, Umar ibn al-Khattab, and Uthman ibn Affan. Accounts of her biography appear in biographical and historical works by authors associated with the traditions of Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Hisham, al-Tabari, and later Ibn Sa'd.
Ruqayyah was born in Mecca into the Banu Hashim clan of the Quraysh, daughter of Muhammad and Khadijah bint Khuwaylid. Her siblings included Zainab bint Muhammad, Umm Kulthum bint Muhammad, Fatimah, and Qasim ibn Muhammad. As a member of the Prophet's household she was connected by lineage and marriage to families such as the Banu Abd al-Muttalib and the Banu Zuhra, networks discussed by historians like Al-Waqidi and Ibn Kathir. During the period of early revelations associated with the Quran and incidents like the Year of Sorrow, Ruqayyah's household experienced social and economic pressures from the broader Quraysh leadership, including figures such as Abu Lahab, Umayyah ibn Khalaf, and Suhayl ibn Amr. Her status in the family is often narrated alongside events involving the Revelation of Sura Al-Duha and episodes recorded in the sira literature of Ibn Ishaq.
Ruqayyah's marriage to Uthman ibn Affan is reported in traditional sources as taking place before or around the time of the Migration to Abyssinia and the first Hijra movements; sources vary between narrations found in Ibn Hisham and the annals of al-Tabari. Through this union she became linked to the influential Umayyad-connected Banu Umayya network and to later political currents that would involve figures such as Mu'awiya I, Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, and Amr ibn al-As. Accounts describe Uthman as a companion of Muhammad and a participant in campaigns and communal decisions alongside Abu Bakr as-Siddiq and Umar ibn al-Khattab. Narratives note that during the period of the Battle of Badr and the Battle of Uhud the Prophet's family, including Ruqayyah, experienced both exile-like conditions and the consolidation of kinship ties with the Ansar such as Sa'd ibn Mu'adh and Talha ibn Ubaydullah. Some traditions record that Ruqayyah accompanied Uthman during the early migrations, while other chains suggest she remained in Medina during key episodes chronicled by compilers like Ibn Sa'd and al-Baladhuri.
Traditional narrations place Ruqayyah's death in Medina during the period of the Prophet's life or soon after, with many accounts dating her death to roughly the same era as the Battle of Badr or the plagues and hardships that struck the community; major transmitters such as Ibn Kathir and Ibn al-Athir relay variant chronologies. Her burial is commonly reported at Al-Baqi', the cemetery in Medina where many members of the Prophet's family and the early Muslim community were interred, alongside names like Hasan ibn Ali, Ibrahim ibn Muhammad, and other members of the Ahl al-Bayt. Debates in historiography concern exact dates and circumstances, with references made to events like the Year of Sorrow and communal episodes preserved in the works of Ibn Ishaq, al-Tabari, and Ibn Sa'd.
Accounts of Ruqayyah's life derive chiefly from the classical sira and hadith corpus and from later historiographers: primary narrations are preserved in Ibn Ishaq (as edited by Ibn Hisham), the chronological compendium of al-Tabari, the biographical collections of Ibn Sa'd, and the historical syntheses of al-Baladhuri and Ibn Kathir. Hadith collections such as those by Al-Bukhari and Muslim contextualize aspects of the Prophet's household life, while genealogical and regional histories by Ibn Hazm and Ibn al-Jawzi examine lineage claims about the Prophet's daughters. Modern scholarship and Orientalist studies—engaging works by scholars such as W. Montgomery Watt, Wilferd Madelung, Karen Armstrong, Patricia Crone, and Jonathan Brown—analyze these classical sources, addressing transmission chains found in the isnad literature and methodological issues associated with sira reconstruction. Discrepancies among sources concerning dates, marriage chronology, and reports of migration have prompted philological and historiographical discussion in journals and reference works dealing with early Islamic history and the Prophetic biography.
Ruqayyah's memory figures into discussions of the Prophet's family in both Sunni and Shia narratives, often invoked alongside the names of Zainab bint Ali, Fatimah, and other members of the Ahl al-Bayt in exegesis, devotional literature, and genealogical registers such as those preserved by al-Tabari and Ibn Sa'd. Literary treatments and hagiographical sketches appear in Ottoman, Persian, and South Asian devotional writings linked to institutions like Al-Azhar University and manuscript traditions circulating in cities such as Cairo, Damascus, Kufa, and Basra. Commemorative practices in regional histories reference sites like Al-Baqi' and ritual narratives connected to broader observances involving the Prophet's household, recorded in works by Al-Ya'qubi and Ibn Kathir. Contemporary biographical entries and encyclopedia treatments by scholars in institutions such as SOAS University of London and publications associated with Brill and Oxford University Press synthesize these classical and modern discussions.
Category:People of the Quraysh Category:Family of Muhammad Category:7th-century Arab people