Umm Ma'bad

Umm Ma'bad al-Khuza'iyya, mistress of the tent on the hijra road and author of the Prophet's famous description ¹.

She was a sturdy woman who sat outside her tent feeding and giving drink to passers-by. The hijra party passed her in a year of drought and asked whether she had anything — she had nothing, the sheep were strayed ².

The Prophet saw a ewe in the tent's corner and asked: is there milk in her? She said: she is too weak for that. She gave him leave to milk her; he wiped her udder with his hand, named God and prayed — it swelled for him and flowed. He milked into a vessel until foam topped it, gave her to drink and gave his companions, then drank himself; he milked a second time until he filled the vessel and left it with her ².

When her husband Abu Ma'bad came and she told him, she described the Prophet a splendid description — the book says it will be given in the Prophet's description at the end of the account — and he said: this is Quraysh's man; I had resolved to accompany him ^{1 3}.