The Forgotten Lesson from The Story of Umm Mahjan
For all mothers…and sisters…don’t underestimate a good deed, even if it just a small one, and know that you are ordered to fulfill your responsibility with all your might and sacrifice in order to establish the greatness of Islam. Don’t abandon your task, even just for a second, due to the trick of the enemy of Islam. They, the enemy of Islam, wanted you to leave your noble task, and they would try to dampen your spirit in being devoted to Islam and building the society.
Don’t….once again, don’t you back off from your devotion to Islam, due to your feeling of weakness, or unability to participate in efforts to strengthen the Islamic society, because indeed, those feelings came from the satan of jinn and men.
Therefore, in here, we’d like to tell a story of a weak, black-skinned woman. It is a lesson to all muslims in terms of earnestness, humbleness, and the great spirit.
She was a black-skinned woman, and she was known as Umm Mahjan. It was mentioned in the book of valid hadith, without the notion of her real name, that she lived in Medina (See: Ibn Sa’d in ath-Thabaqat (VIII/414)].
She -may Allah be pleased with her- was a poor woman, whose body was weak. Thus, she was one of the concerns of the Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him-, leader of the muslims, since he always visited the poor and asked about their condition, and also gave them foods, don’t you know this fact, O leaders of the people?
She -may Allah be pleased with her- realized that she had responsibility towards her faith and Islamic society as a whole. But what could she do, while she was only an old and weak woman? However, she didn’t hesitate even once, and she also didn’t feel any despair within her heart. And despair is something unknown to the faithful people.
Thus, her faith showed her the way to fulfill her sense of responsibility. She always cleaned up the trashes and leaves from the mosque by sweeping and dumping it to the trash bin. She always kept the cleanliness of Allah’s house, because it served a vital function in Islam. There gathered the heroes and the scholars. Mosque was just like a house of parliament which was used five times a day to hold councils, to understand and love each other, as it was a university of education of righteous deeds which role was principle in building the society.
Such was the function of a mosque during the time of the Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him-, and such what happened during the time of guided caliphs, and that was how the mosque of ours today should be functioned, until the Resurrection Day.
Hence, Umm Mahjan’s spirit was never weakened, since it was the only thing that she could do. She never underestimated the importance of cleaning the trashes, in order to create a comfortable environment for the Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- and his companions to hold their councils which they did routinely.
Umm Mahjan – may Allah be pleased with her- kept doing her task, until her death came, during the time of the Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him-. When she died, the companions -may Allah be pleased with them- brought her body after the night fell and they found out that the Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- was still asleep. They didn’t want to wake him up, thus they continued to perform the janaza prayer and buried her in Baqi‘ul Gharqad.
At the following morning, the Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- felt that she was missing, and he asked about it to his companions. They answered, “She has been buried, O Messenger of Allah, we had came to you but we found you asleep, thus we didn’t want to wake you up.” Then he said, “Come with me!”. Then together with his companions, the Messenger of Allah went to the grave of Umm Mahjan. He -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- stood, while the companions stood behind him in rows, and he -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- prayed for her, and he recited the takbeer for four times. (See: al-Ishabah in Tamyizish Shahabah (VIII/187)]
In a narration from Abu Huraira -may Allah be pleased with him-, it was told that there was a black woman who always cleaned up the mosque. One day, the Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- felt that he missed her, thus he asked people about her. They replied, “She had died.” The Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- said, “Why didn’t you tell me about it?”. Abu Huraira said, “It seemed that they thought that the death of Umm Mahjan was a trivial thing.” The Messenger of Allah-peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- said, “Show me where her grave is!”. Then they showed it to the Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- and he prayed for her, then said,
إِنَّ هٰذِهِ الْقُبُورَ مَمْلُوءَةٌ ظُلْمَةٌ عَلَى أَهْلِهَا، وَإِنَّ اللّٰهَ يُنَوِّرُهَا لَهُمْ بِصَلاَتِي عَلَيْهِمْ
“Truly, these graves were filled with darkness upon its dwellers, and Allah has illuminated it for them because I’ve prayed for them.” (See: al-Ishabah (VIII/187), al-Muwatha’ (I/227), an-Nisa’i, (I/9) the hadith is a mursal hadith, but its content is similar to the hadith after it that is connected to the narration of al Bukhari and Muslim).
May Allah have mercy on Umm Mahjan, may Allah be pleased with her, who, even though she was poor and weak, was still eager to participate according to her ability. her story was a lesson to the muslims, in the turnover of the history, that they shouldn’t belittle a deed, no matter how small it seemed.
Therefore, she received the attention of the Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- until she died. Such was his attention that he blamed his companions -may Allah be pleased with them- for not telling him about her death thus he could brought Umm Mahjan to her last resting place. Even more than that, he was hurry to go to her grave to pray for her so that Allah would enlighten her grave because of his prayer. O mothers…O sisters…now, after reading this story, do you know what should you do in participating in establishing this religion?
Summarized from the book “Mereka Adalah Para Shahabiyah” (“They are the Female Companions” (Publisher: Pustaka At Tibyan)