Juwayriyah bint al-Harith

Juwayriyah bint al-Harith (c. 608-673 CE) was one of the Mothers of the Believers (Ummahat al-Muminin), having married the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ after the Expedition of Banu Mustaliq in 5 or 6 AH. She was the daughter of al-Harith ibn Abi Dirar, the chief of the Banu Mustaliq tribe, and had previously been married before being taken as a captive during the Muslim raid on the tribe, which had been preparing to attack Medina. She came to the Prophet ﷺ seeking help in fulfilling her ransom contract (mukatabah) with Thabit ibn Qays, the companion who had taken her as part of his share of the spoils. The Prophet ﷺ offered to pay her ransom himself and proposed marriage to her, which she accepted. The significance of this marriage was extraordinary: when the companions learned that the Prophet had married the daughter of their chief, they immediately freed all of the Banu Mustaliq captives in their possession out of respect for the Prophet's new family relation. Approximately a hundred captive families were freed as a result of a single marriage — Aisha remarked that no woman was more blessed for her people than Juwayriyah. She became known for her extensive worship and dhikr; the Prophet once returned from the Fajr prayer in the morning to find her still in her prayer place making dhikr, having not moved since before Fajr. She lived until approximately 56 AH / 673 CE and is buried in Medina.