Umm Maʿbad al-Khuzāʿiyya

Umm Maʿbad al-Khuzāʿiyya was a woman of the tribe of Khuzāʿah who occupies a notable place in the sīrah tradition because of her encounter with the Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ during the Hijrah from Makkah to Madīnah in 1 AH/622 CE. Her full name is commonly given as ʿĀtikah bint Khālid al-Khuzāʿiyya, though she is best known by her kunyah, Umm Maʿbad. She lived with her husband in a tent situated along the route between Makkah and Madīnah, where travelers frequently stopped for provisions. Her meeting with the Prophet ﷺ became one of the most celebrated episodes of the Hijrah and is preserved in both the sīrah and ḥadīth literature.

According to the traditional accounts, the Prophet ﷺ, accompanied by Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq and their guides, passed by the tent of Umm Maʿbad during the migration. Finding her flock weakened by drought, she informed them that she had no food or milk to offer. The Prophet ﷺ then noticed a frail ewe that had been left behind because of its weakness and asked permission to milk it. After invoking the name of Allah, he passed his hand over the animal, whereupon its udder became full of milk. The Prophet ﷺ, his companions, and Umm Maʿbad all drank from it, and sufficient milk remained afterward. The incident was remembered as one of the signs associated with the Prophet ﷺ during the Hijrah.

When her husband returned, Umm Maʿbad related what had occurred and gave a detailed description of the stranger who had visited her tent. Her account is among the most famous physical descriptions of the Prophet ﷺ preserved in the early sources. She described his noble appearance, balanced stature, radiant countenance, eloquent speech, and dignified bearing in language that later generations regarded as one of the finest portrayals of the Prophet ﷺ. The report was widely transmitted by historians and scholars of sīrah and shamāʾil literature and remains an important source for descriptions of the Prophet’s ﷺ appearance and character.

The traditions state that Umm Maʿbad and her husband later embraced Islam, and their encounter with the Prophet ﷺ became a lasting part of the memory of the Hijrah. In the sīrah tradition, Umm Maʿbad is remembered not as a political leader or military participant, but as the woman whose tent became the setting for one of the most memorable episodes of the migration and whose eloquent description preserved for posterity a vivid portrait of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Her account continues to be cited as a testimony to both the prophetic character and the extraordinary events that accompanied the Hijrah.