Umm Sulaym bint Milhan

Umm Sulaym bint Milhan al-Ansariyya, mother of Anas, servant of the Messenger of God; she was famous by her kunya ¹. Her name is disputed: said to be Suhayla, Rumayla, Rumaytha, Malika, or al-Ghumaysa' / al-Rumaysa' ¹.

In the Jahiliyya she married Malik ibn al-Nadr and bore Anas; she became Muslim with the Ansar's forerunners, Malik grew angry and went out to Syria and died there, and she married Abu Talha after him ¹.

Ahmad relates from Anas that Abu Talha proposed to Umm Sulaym before he was Muslim, and she said: "Abu Talha, do you not know your god you worship grows from the earth? ... are you not ashamed to worship a tree? If you become Muslim, I want no dower from you but it" — he came and bore the two testimonies, and she said to Anas: "marry Abu Talha" ¹. In Ibn Sa'd's account: "her dower was Islam" ².

Anas relates that the Prophet used to visit Umm Sulaym and she would offer him what she made for him; he entered no house but Umm Sulaym's apart from his wives' — when it was remarked on he said: "I have mercy on her: her brother and her father were killed with me" ². Ibn Hajar comments that his entering Umm Haram's house too is because the two sisters lived in one dwelling, and that she used to campaign with the Messenger of God ².

Ibn Sa'd narrates with a sound chain that Umm Sulaym took a dagger on the day of Hunayn; Abu Talha said: "Messenger of God, here is Umm Sulaym with a dagger" — she said: "I took it so that if one of the polytheists came near me I would rip his belly" ².

In the Sahih: a son of hers by Abu Talha died, and she told the household not to inform Abu Talha before her; when he came and asked she said "he is the calmest he has been" — he thought the boy had recovered; then she adorned herself for him and he slept with her. In the morning she said: "count your son among God's rewards" — he told the Prophet, who said: "may God bless you two in your night" — and she bore Abdullah ibn Abi Talha, and was granted children of whom ten complete Qur'an-reciters read the Qur'an ².

In the Sahih: when the Prophet arrived, Umm Sulaym said: "Messenger of God, here is Anas to serve you" — he was ten years old — and he served the Prophet from his arrival at Medina until he died ².

She related several hadiths from the Prophet; from her related her son Anas, Ibn Abbas, Zayd ibn Thabit and Abu Salama ibn Abd al-Rahman ². Ibn Hajar mentions that Abu Umar took her lineage from Ibn al-Sakan but gave her mother's name as Malika, while Ibn al-Sakan's book has Aniqa — Ibn Fathun pointed this out ².