Umm Harun of Damascus

Umm Harun is among the women ascetics of Syria in Sifat al-Safwa (no. 824); Abd al-Aziz ibn Umayr describes her as one of the fearful and devout. ¹ Abu Sulayman al-Darani said, "Whoever wants to see a true swoon of awe, let him look at Umm Harun," and, "I did not think there could be anyone like her in Syria." ¹

She used to say, "I have put the world in its proper place," and ate bread alone; she said the day weighed on her until night came, when she rose at its start, and at the hour before dawn ease entered her heart. ¹ Rabi'a bint Isma'il told her husband that Umm Harun had not oiled her hair for twenty years, and yet when they uncovered their heads her hair was finer than theirs. ¹

From al-Qasim al-Ju'i: she walked from Damascus to Jerusalem once every month, and she told him that once while walking at Baysan a lion came at her; she said to it, "If you have provision here, eat," and it sat back on its haunches and turned away. ¹ He also relates that he visited her when she was ill, and when he asked whether there were devotees whom fear of the Fire distracted from longing for the Garden, she cried out and fell from the step in a faint. ¹