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Maria al-Qibtiyya

Maria al-Qibtiyya

Female - 637    Has one ancestor and one descendant in this family tree.

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  • Name Maria al-Qibtiyya  
    Gender Female 
    Death 637 
    Siblings 1 Sibling 
    Person ID I20558  Geneagraphie | Descendants of Muhammad
    Last Modified 17 Nov 2009 

    Father NN   d. Yes, date unknown 
    Family ID F294937  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Muhammad, "The Prophet",   b. 25 Mar 570, al-Mamlaka al-ʻArabiyya as-Suʻūdiyya Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 8 Jun 632, Medina, al-Mamlaka al-ʻArabiyya as-Suʻūdiyya Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 62 years) 
    Children 
     1. Ibrahim   d. Yes, date unknown
    Family ID F8588  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 17 Nov 2009 

  • Notes 
    • Egyptian Coptic Christian slave who was sent as a gift from Muqawqis , a Byzantine official, to the Islamic prophet Muhammad in 628. According to some Islamic accounts, she was Muhammad 's wife, and therefore a "Mother of the Believers" (Arabic: Ummahat-al- Mu'mineen ), other sources like Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya talk about her being only a concubine. She was the mother of Muhammad's son Ibrahim , who died in infancy. Her sister, Sirin , was also sent to Muhammad; Muhammad gave her to his follower Hassan ibn Thabit . Maria never remarried after Muhammad's death in 632, and died five years later. Her birthdate is unknown. No primary source mentions her age.
      In the Islamic year 6 AH (627 - 628 CE), Muhammad is said to have written letters to the great rulers of the Middle East , proclaiming the new faith and inviting the rulers to join. What purport to be texts of some of the letters are found in Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari 's History of the Prophets and Kings , which was written some 250 years after the events it chronicled. Tabari writes that a deputation was sent to an Egyptian governor named as al-Muqawqis. A note in the State University of New York edition of Tabari states that this seems to be a version of Cyrus of the Caucasus , who was the Byzantine Patriarch of Alexandria . The note adds that Cyrus did not become Patriarch until 631, and that an account placing him in Egypt three or four years earlier is therefore questionable.
      Tabari does, however, recount the story of Maria's arrival from Egypt:
      In this year Hatib b. Abi Balta'ah came back from al-Muqawqis bringing M and her sister S his female mule Duldul, his donkey Ya'f and sets of garments. With the two women al-Muqawqis had sent a eununch, and the latter stayed with them. H had invited them to become Muslims before he arrived with them, and M and her sister did so. The Messenger of God lodged them with Umm Sulaym bt. Milh M was beautiful. The Prophet sent her sister S to Hassan b. Thabit and she bore him 'Abd al-Rahm b. Hass
      -Tabari, History of the Prophets and Kings.

      Muhammad lived in a mud-brick dwelling next to the Medina mosque , and each of his wives had her own mud-brick room, built in a line next to his. Maria, however, was lodged in a house on the edge of Medina. Maria is also not listed as a wife in some of the earliest sources, such as Ibn Hisham 's notes on Ibn Ishaq 's Sira . Muslim sources are unanimous in saying that she was accorded the same honor and respect given Muhammad's wives, pointing out that she was given the same title as Muhammad's wives - "Mother of the Believers."

      Historians John Gilchrist and Maxime Rodinson feel that the "story of the honey" is an expurgated version of the story of Maria



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