Moment 1 of 1
She folded it away
Madinah, shortly before Makkah was opened, when Abu Sufyan came to negotiate and called on his daughter.
Madinah8 AH approximate1 min read
Abu Sufyan came to Madinah because the treaty was in trouble and he wanted it repaired. He was still the leader of Quraysh, still an idolater, and he came to his daughter's house.
He went to sit down, and she moved the bedding out of his way so that he could not.
He asked her whether she thought it too good for him or him too good for it.
She told him it was the Prophet's ﷺ, and that he was an idolater, and that she was not going to have him sit on it.
He said something bitter about what had become of her since she left, and went out.
Two things are worth holding on to here. The first is that this is her father, in a society organised around exactly that relationship, and she is refusing him a seat. The second is that she does not soften it or dress it up — she gives him the reason directly.
Within a short time Makkah was opened, and Abu Sufyan accepted Islam. The record does not connect those two facts, and neither should a reader; but the encounter is one of the last recorded between them before it.
In this moment: Abu Sufyan ibn Harb
Quick recall
Why did Umm Habibah move the bedding when her father came to sit?
Sources & review
Draft content — undergoing reviewThis content was written for SahabaMate and has not yet been checked by a reviewer against the works below. Treat it as a starting point, not a citation.
As-Sirah an-Nabawiyyahالسيرة النبوية
Classical biography · Ibn Hisham, from the recension of Ibn Ishaq
Kitab at-Tabaqat al-Kabirالطبقات الكبرى
Classical biography · Ibn Sa'd
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