رَطية بنت كعب

رَطية بنت كعب

Ratiya bint Ka'b of Quraysh, an ancestress through Asad ibn Abd al-Uzza; tradition identifies her as the woman meant by 'she who undid her spun yarn strand by strand' 1.

Depth

At a glance

Era
Pre-Islamic Arabia
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Family, marriage and kinshipWomen

Place in the story

  • Family of the Prophet

Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.

Overview

Ratiya bint Ka'b ibn Sa'd ibn Taym ibn Murra ibn Ka'b, mother of Asad ibn Abd al-Uzza ibn Qusayy. She is thus one of the Prophet ﷺ's maternal great-grandmothers. al-Baladhuri reports that she is the Qurashi woman said to be meant in the description of the woman who unravelled her yarn 2. This report is given in the form "it is said", and verifying it needs an additional source.

People and things also explored

Jāhilī Marriage Forms· The social condition of the Arabs before Islam· Waʾd (Infant Burial)· The marriage of Fatima and Ali· The Prophet's marriage to Khadija· The Prophet's marriage to Sawda bint Zam'a· Marriage to Zaynab bint Jahsh· The Choice Offered to the Prophet's Wives

Sources

  1. Ansab al-Ashraf of al-Baladhuri, p. 534
  2. Ansab al-Ashraf of al-Baladhuri, p.534
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “رَطية بنت كعب”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/ratiya-bint-kab/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-17.

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Wing

People

Prophets, companions, scholars, rulers, scientists, poets, travelers: women and men who shaped the story.
Related

Jāhilī Marriage Forms

Four pagan marriage forms — common, istibda‘ (lending a wife for a better lineage), communal paternity assignment, and wife-swapping (al-badal) — Islam abolished all but the first.