A Muslim Princess Story - Juwairiyah bint Harith (ra)

𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑨𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒂(𝒓𝒂) 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒚. Raised among the foremost noble families in the lap of wealth and luxury, Juwairiyah bint Harith(ra) had the refinement and grace of a princess. A beautiful and accomplished young lady; intelligent and most eloquent in her speech, so naturally prized was she amongst the Arabs. 

The Muslims defeated her father Harith bin Abi Dhirar and his tribe, who had set out to attack them. This princess, widowed daughter of a chieftain, came before the Prophetﷺ to plead her case, captured as she was after her tribe’s defeat. 

The Prophetﷺ pitying her plight, offered to pay for her freedom and marry her, to her delight. Deeply moved by the preferment of honour and elevation in her status to Mother of the Believers, Juwairiyah(ra) accepted whole heartedly, swearing her allegiance. Upon this blessed union her tribesmen, now kinsman to the Prophetﷺ were released honourably, they too in time accepting Islam, bringing a swift end to future heedless cycle of vengeful bloodshed.

Most days Juwairiya(ra) could be found engrossed in prayer. Once she said, ‘the Prophetﷺ came out from my apartment in the morning as I was busy in performing the dawn prayer. He came back in the forenoon and found me sitting there. The Prophetﷺ said, "Are you still in the same position as I left you?" I replied in the affirmative. Thereupon the Prophetﷺ said, "I recited four words three times after I had left you. If these are to be weighed against all you have recited since morning, these will be heavier. These are: Allah is free from imperfection and I begin with His praise, as many times as the number of His creatures, in accordance with His Good Pleasure, equal to the weight of His Throne and equal to the ink that may be used in recording the words (for His Praise) ’ [Muslim]

Islam is the middle path and sometimes less is more, where some of the weightiest rewards are to be found in the most simplest of deeds or adhkar. In fact, the Prophetﷺ also said:

Verily, the most beloved deeds to Allah are performed regularly, even if they are small. [Bukhārī]

With Ramadan just shy of a few months away it’s a reminder how in the coming weeks we can pave the way to preparing ourselves. Setting targets, even if small, all in preparation for when we have to pull out all the stops to reaping the most we can from Ramadan. So whether it’s a page a day of Qur’an to improve recitation, or introducing morning and evening adhkar to our routines - it counts and indeed every little helps.🌙

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