Women around the Messenger
207
When Umm Sulaym embraced Islam she was married to Malik ibn NaQr who disagreed with her and continued in his polytheism, having blocked his own heart from guidance and his eyes from the light of Islam. This led to their separation. That was the first stand of Umm Sulaym after she embraced Islam. The love of Allah and His Messenger was more precious than the love for marital and family relations, even if the person concerned was a closest relative and the father of the only son, Anas. Malik did not only divorce his wife, Umm Sulaym. He also left Madeenah. It was unbearable for him to continue living in Madeenah So he headed for Syria where he with the Messenger of Allah died after a short while, as a lonely refugee. He was not only exiled from his homeland, but also from Allah's mercy. This stand of Malik reminds me of a saying of Allah's Messenger (~), "Indeed, Madeenah expels (bad) persons as a furnace removes the impurities of iron. ,,61 The Messenger of Allah (~) said the truth. And Umm Sulaym proceeded in her way to Allah. If every step she took and every progress she made indicated anything, it is no more than her overwhelming love for Allah and her attainment of the highest degree in that. After her divorce from Malik and his departure for exile, Abu Tall;tah al-An~an came to ask for her hand in marriage. He was then still on his polytheism and paganism. What was the response of Umm Sulaym, who preferred the love of Allah and His Messenger above the love of husband and the father of the only child?
61
Bukhari.