Sawdah bint Zamah

Sawdah bint Zamah (d. c. 54 AH / 674 CE), whose full name is Sawdah bint Zamah ibn Qays al-Amiriyyah al-Qurashiyyah, was the second wife of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, whom he married approximately three years after the death of his first and most beloved wife Khadijah. Her first husband was Sakran ibn Amr ibn Abd Shams, with whom she had several children, and who died shortly after returning from the first Muslim migration to Abyssinia. Her father Zamah was from the Amir clan of the Quraysh.

Sawdah was among the earliest converts to Islam and was herself one of the brave souls who made the difficult first migration to Abyssinia to escape Qurayshi persecution, an act that demonstrated her firm commitment to the faith. When Khawlah bint Hakim suggested to the Prophet that he marry Sawdah to give his household a caring mother for his young daughters, the Prophet agreed and sent a marriage proposal. Their marriage served both a practical purpose — providing care for his household — and honored Sawdah's sacrifice and devotion to Islam.

Sawdah was known for her large and nurturing personality, her warmth, and her memorable sense of humor that sometimes made the Prophet ﷺ laugh. She was a skilled leatherworker and craftswoman. She bore her previous marriage's children into the Prophet's household with dignity and care. The Prophet developed genuine affection for her, and she in turn loved him deeply and feared any separation from him.

In her later years, when Sawdah sensed that the Prophet might consider releasing her from marriage, she selflessly gave her allotted night of the Prophet's companionship to Aisha, whom she knew the Prophet loved most deeply, in order to remain among his wives and be counted as a Mother of the Believers on the Day of Judgment. This act of sacrifice is recorded in the Quran's context of discussing the arrangements within the Prophet's household. She died in Medina, most likely during the caliphate of Umar, and her status as a Mother of the Believers (Umm al-Muminin) remains one of the highest honors in Islamic tradition.