Barakah Ibn Thalaba (ra)

 𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒘𝒏, 𝑨𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒉 𝒃𝒊𝒏𝒕 𝑾𝒂𝒉𝒃  𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅,

“O Barakah! I have seen a strange dream.”

“Something good, my lady?” I asked.

“I saw lights coming down from my abdomen lighting up the mountains, the hills and the valleys around Makkah.”

“You shall give birth to a blessed child who will bring goodness,” I said.

Barakah bint Thalaba(ra), was an Abyssinian bondmaid of Aaminah, special in more ways than one. She realised the importance of the future Prophetﷺ being born into this world from the dream. Barakah was Aaminah’s midwife too, honoured to be the first person to set eyes on the blessed baby; the first to hold himﷺ and the first to smile at his face.

The Prophetﷺ loved Barakah(ra) dearly. Theirs’ was the longest relationship in his lifetime of love and sacrifice. After Aaminah’s death, Barakah(ra) cared for the Prophetﷺ like her own son and knew him well. Sacrificing the prime of her youth, she stayed staunchly by the Prophetﷺ just as she promised his dying mother. And later as the Prophetﷺ continued to lose those he loved around him; from his grandfather, his wife Khadijah(ra), his Uncle, his daughter Zaynab(ra), Barakah(ra) was there, a constant comfort in his life ‘his mother after his mother’ as heﷺ called her. 

During the migration to Madinah, Barakah(ra) was so thirsty she thought she would die. Then she saw a miracle; a bowl of water tied to a beautiful white rope descended towards her from the sky. She put her lips to it and drank her fill to her hearts content [Tabaqat Ibn Sa’d]. It’s said when she fasted the hottest days of the months she never experienced thirst after. When she arrived in Madinah, dusty and feet sore, the Prophetﷺ exclaimed;

”Ya Umm Ayman. Ya Ummi! Indeed for you is a place in Paradise.”

Barakah(ra) inextricably linked her wellbeing to the success of Islam.

When the Prophetﷺ once asked about her wellbeing, she replied: 

‘I am well, O Messenger of Allah so long as Islam is.’

This shows her strong dedication to the Prophet’sﷺ cause and the message to him that she will never forsake him and never complain.[Tabaqat] 

After the Prophetﷺ died, Abu Bakr(ra) and ‘Umar (ra) visited and found her weeping. She said: ‘I know that what is with Allah is better for His Messenger, but I am weeping because the Revelation from heaven has ceased.’ Moved by her words they too started to weep.” [Ibn Majah].

Barakah(ra) lived a full life of service to the deen. When the revelation stopped at the death of the Prophetﷺ she felt the loss of the connection deeply. 

Barakah(ra) outlived the Prophetﷺ, her husband Zayd Ibn Haritha(ra)  and her two sons(ra). She didn’t emerge from a popular crowd, influentials, or impressive lineage. Her great stature comes from her iman, piety, her service in upholding the faith and living by it truly, and through her love of the Prophetﷺ and Islam.🌙

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