MORE THAN A COMPANION'S WIFE

FAJR REMINDER: MORE THAN A COMPANION'S WIFE

Rabīʿ Al-Akhīr 14, 1448 (26-September-2026)

Some women are remembered because of the men they married, while others are remembered for what they themselves contributed to Islām. Umm ad-Dardāʾ al-Kubrā, Khayrah bint Abī Ḥadrad (Raḍiyallāhu ʿAnhā), belongs to the latter.

Before we proceed, however, there is an important distinction: there were two women known as Umm ad-Dardāʾ. The Kubrā was Khayrah bint Abī Ḥadrad, a Ṣaḥābiyyah and the wife of Abū ad-Dardāʾ (Raḍiyallāhu ʿAnhu). The Ṣughrā was his later wife, Hujaymah bint Ḥuyayy al-Waṣābiyyah, who was a Tābiʿiyyah (Raḥimahallāh).

Umm ad-Dardāʾ al-Kubrā (Raḍiyallāhu ʿAnhā) was not merely the wife of a famous Companion; she herself heard from the Prophet (ﷺ) and transmitted his teachings. She did not merely live around knowledge—she preserved and reported it.

Ibn Ḥajar (Raḥimahullāh) records her as a Companion and states that she preserved reports from the Prophet (ﷺ) and from her husband, Abū ad-Dardāʾ (Raḍiyallāhu ʿAnhu). Several Tābiʿūn, including Maymūn ibn Mihrān, Ṣafwān ibn ʿAbdullāh, and Zayd ibn Aslam, narrated from her.

[al-Iṣābah fī Tamyīz aṣ-Ṣaḥābah, vol. 8, p. 67]

There is a particularly powerful report transmitted through Umm ad-Dardāʾ al-Kubrā from her husband, in which the Prophet (ﷺ) said:

“Nothing is heavier upon the Scale of a believer on the Day of Resurrection than good character. Verily, Allāh hates the vulgar and obscene.”

[Sunan at-Tirmidhī 2002]

We often concentrate on how much we pray, fast, recite, and give—but the Prophet (ﷺ) specifically tells us that good character will be extraordinarily heavy on the Scale.

So, what will actually be heavy on our Scale on the Day of Accountability?

There is also a report attributed specifically to Umm ad-Dardāʾ al-Kubrā that the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) said:

“Whenever a person supplicates for his brother in his absence, the angel says: ‘And for you the same.’”

Ibn Ḥajar (Raḥimahullāh) discusses her narration and notes another route for it; the meaning is also firmly established through Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2733, where the Prophet (ﷺ) taught that when a Muslim supplicates for his brother in his absence, the angel says:

“Āmīn, and for you the same.”

[Itḥāf al-Maharah, 18/256]

Imagine that: someone may never know that you remembered them before Allāh, never know that you mentioned their name in Sujūd, and never know that you asked Allāh to forgive them—and yet an angel responds by asking Allāh to grant you the same.

Interestingly, classical scholars described Umm ad-Dardāʾ al-Kubrā as a woman of virtue, intelligence, and worship.

Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr (Raḥimahullāh) says:

“She was among the virtuous women, the intelligent ones, and those possessing sound judgment, along with worship and ascetic devotion. She died two years before Abū ad-Dardāʾ, and her death occurred in ash-Shām during the Khilāfah of ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān. She had preserved (knowledge) from the Prophet (ﷺ) and from her husband, Abū ad-Dardāʾ ʿUwaymir al-Anṣārī.”

[al-Istīʿāb fī Maʿrifat al-Aṣḥāb, vol. 4, p. 1935]

So, she was not simply known because she was someone's wife. She was a Ṣaḥābiyyah who sought knowledge, preserved it, transmitted it, and was remembered by the scholars for her virtue, intelligence, sound judgment, worship, and ascetic devotion.

We need to strive to be among those whose character is heavy on the Scale, whose tongues remember others in sincere Duʿāʾ, and whose deeds continue to testify for them long after they have left this world.

I beseech Allāh (ﷻ) to be especially Merciful to Umm ad-Dardāʾ al-Kubrā, Khayrah bint Abī Ḥadrad (Raḍiyallāhu ʿAnhā).

Āmīn.