Sara, mawla of Banu Abd al-Muttalib
سارة مولاة بني عبد المطلب
between 634 and 644 CE
A freedwoman attached to a family of Banu Abd al-Muttalib. In this edition she is named both as one of two possible carriers of Hatib's letter, and as a woman who had harmed the Prophet in Mecca — ordered killed at the conquest, then amnestied; years later a horse trampled her at al-Abtah in Umar's caliphate.
At a glance
- Era
- The Prophetic Era · The Rashidun Caliphate
- Region
- Arabia
- Review
- Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it
Life in time
Place in the story
- CollaboratortowardQurayshDebated
- VictimTradition
Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.
Summary
A freedwoman of Banu Abd al-Muttalib; she appears in this version as one of two accounts of the identity of the bearer of Hatib's letter to Quraysh 1. She also appears in the list of those the Prophet ordered killed on the conquest day for harming him in Mecca; she was granted safety, then horses trampled her at al-Abtah and killed her in Umar's time 2.
The letter's bearer
On the identity of the woman who carried Hatib's letter there are two accounts: Ibn Ishaq said from Ibn Ja'far from Urwa that she was a woman of Muzayna; in another account she is Sara, freedwoman of Banu Abd al-Muttalib 1.
The conquest day
For young visitors
A freedwoman of Banu Abd al-Muttalib whose name appears in two different accounts: some say she carried the secret letter to Mecca, others say it was another woman of Muzayna. She survived the conquest day, then years later a mount trampled her dead.
Connections
- Member of
- Quraysh
- Participated in
- The proscribed persons on the day of the Conquest
People and things also explored
Abdullah ibn Khatal· Abdullah ibn Sa'd ibn Abi Sarh· al-Huwayrith ibn Nuqaydh· Miqyas ibn Subaba· The Conquest of Mecca (Fath Makka)· Mecca· Fartana· The Treaty of Hudaybiyya
Sources
- al-Sira al-Nabawiyya — Ibn Hisham, al-Saqqa edition (1355/1936), 4/40
- al-Sira al-Nabawiyya — Ibn Hisham, al-Saqqa edition (1355/1936), 4/52-53
- al-Sira al-Nabawiyya — Ibn Hisham, al-Saqqa edition (1355/1936), 4/53
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Sara, mawla of Banu Abd al-Muttalib”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/sara-al-mawla/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-13.