{{Use Oxford spelling|date=July 2020}} {{Short description|Companion (Sahabiyyah) of Muhammad}} {{Infobox religious biography | name = Umm Ubays | image = | native_name = أُمُّ عُبَيْسٍ‎ | imagesize = | alt = | caption = | title = | birth_date = | birth_place = Mecca, Arabia | death_date = | death_place = Medina | resting_place = Medina | religion = Islam }} '''Umm ʿUbays''' ({{langx|ar|أُمُّ عُبَيْسٍ}}) or '''Umm ʿUmays''' was a woman in Arabia who was an early convert to Islam and one of the disciples (Sahaba) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

==Biography== She was a slave in Mecca who became an early convert to Islam. After 614 she was tortured in an attempt to force her to renounce her faith.<ref>Muhammad ibn Saad. ''Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir'' volume 8. Translated by Bewley, A. (1995). ''The Women of Madina'', p. 180. London: Ta-Ha Publishers.</ref> Abu Bakr bought and manumitted her. It was in response to the purchase of these slaves that Abu Bakr's father protested: "I see that you are freeing weak slaves. Why don't you free powerful men who could defend you and protect you?" Abu Bakr replied, "I am only trying to do what I am attempting for God's sake."<ref>Muhammad ibn Ishaq. ''Sirat Rasul Allah''. Translated by Guillaume, A. (1955). ''The Life of Muhammad'', p. 144. Oxford: Oxford University Press.</ref>

Umm Ubays had a sister, Harithah bint al-Muammil.<ref name="Zunaira, Haritha bint Al-Muammil">{{cite web|title=Zunaira, Haritha bint Al-Muammil|url=http://www.eslam.de/begriffe/z/zunaira.htm|website=www.eslam.de|access-date=13 May 2017|language=de}}</ref>

It is sometimes asserted that Umm Ubays was the daughter of Al-Nahdiah. This is apparently due to the ambiguous wording of Ibn Saad.<ref>Ibn Saad/Bewley p. 180.</ref> However, Ibn Ishaq makes it clear that Umm Ubays and Al-Nahdiah's daughter were two different people, both of whom were purchased and manumitted by Abu Bakr.<ref>Ibn Ishaq/Guillaume p. 144.</ref>

==See also== *List of non-Arab Sahaba *Sunni view of the Sahaba

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *https://web.archive.org/web/20050421200507/http://www.islamic-paths.org/Home/English/Muhammad/Book/Millennium_Biography/Chapter_030.htm

{{DEFAULTSORT:Umm Ubays}} Category:Women companions of the Prophet Category:Non-Arab companions of the Prophet Category:7th-century Arab slaves

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