Umm Waraqah bint Nofal

Umm Waraqah bint Abd Allah ibn al-Harith al-Ansariyya (martyred ca. 11–13 AH) was a Companion of the Prophet ﷺ who is notable as one of the very few women whom the Prophet ﷺ authorized to lead prayer — specifically, she was permitted to lead the prayer for the members of her household, which included men. She was a devout worshipper who had memorized the entire Quran and requested from the Prophet ﷺ permission to join the campaign at Badr, wanting to serve as a nurse and seek martyrdom.

The Prophet ﷺ told her that Allah had decreed her martyrdom and that it would come in her home. He would visit her home and called her "the female martyr." She appointed her own muezzin — an elderly man — to call the adhan for the household prayers she led, which Ibn Khuzayma and Abu Dawud record as evidence for the permissibility of women leading prayer in specific contexts.

She was murdered by two of her slaves — a male and a female — who strangled her and then fled. When Umar ibn al-Khattab heard of her death, he went to her house and found her wrapped in her shroud. He said: "The Prophet of Allah spoke the truth" — she had received the martyrdom he had foretold.

Her slaves were caught, confessed, and were executed under Umar's order — the first time the death penalty was applied for murder in Medina under his caliphate in this particular case. Umm Waraqah is recorded as one of the Companions who died as a martyr despite never reaching a battlefield, fulfilling the Prophet's prophetic statement about her.