Nusaybah bint Ka'ab

d. c. 634 CE

Went to Uhud with a waterskin to give the wounded water. When the Muslims broke and the Prophet was exposed to enemy blades, she took up a sword, tied her waist, and stood over him with her body as his shield. Received thirteen wounds that day.

Life

Nusaybah bint Ka'ab, known by her kunya Umm Umarah, was one of the first women of Medina to accept Islam. She was present at the Second Pledge of Aqabah, one of only two women in that historic delegation of seventy-three men and women who swore allegiance to the Prophet before the Hijra.

At Uhud she went to the battlefield with a waterskin to tend the wounded. When the archers left their post and the Meccans broke through and turned toward the Prophet ﷺ, she saw him almost alone, his defenders scattered. She dropped the waterskin. She took a sword from a wounded Muslim's hand. She tied her sash tightly around her waist to fight, and she stood over the Prophet to shield him. She was struck thirteen times. One blow to her shoulder took months to heal.

Later, at the Battle of Yamama against Musaylima the liar, she fought alongside her son. She lost her hand in the battle. Her son was killed. She herself carried Musaylima's severed head off the field with her one remaining hand. When the Prophet was told of her Uhud wounds, he said: "The station of Nusaybah bint Ka'ab today is higher than the station of so-and-so and so-and-so," naming men celebrated for their bravery.

She is a proof against every argument that Islam confines the courage or public life of its women.

Stories

Each story below is drawn from the classical Islamic sources and is told in longer form on its own page.