Sakhar ibn Amir ibn Ka'b ibn Sa'd (صَخَر ٱبْن عَامِر ٱبْن كَعْب ٱبْن سَعْد)
Names
Salma Umm al-Khayr bint Sakhar ibn Amir ibn Amr ibn Ka'b (Arabic: سَلْمَىٰ أُمّ ٱلْخَيْر بِنْت صَخَر ٱبْن عَامِر ٱبْن كَعْب)
Salma Umm al-Khayr bint Sakhar (Arabic: سَلْمَىٰ أُمّ ٱلْخَيْر بِنْت صَخَر, Salmā ʾUmm al-Khayr bint Ṣakhar) was a companion of Islamic prophet Muhammad and the mother of Abu Bakr, the first Rashidun Caliph.
Biography
Salma was the daughter of Sakhar ibn ʿĀmir ibn Kaʿb ibn Saʿd ibn Taym (Arabic: صخر بن عامر بن كعب بن سعد بن تيم),[1] a man from the Banu Taym clan of the Quraysh, which was the same clan to which her husband Uthman ibn Amir (later known as Abu Quhafa) also belonged. Her kunya was Umm Al-Khayr ("Mother of Goodness").[2]
Salma married Abu Quhafa and had several sons who did not survive infancy. When Abu Bakr was born in 573,[2] Salma took him to the Kaaba and prayed to the gods: “If this one is granted immunity from death, then bestow him upon me!” Abu Bakr was therefore known as Atiq (" the exempted"), while his subsequent surviving brothers were given the related names Mu'taq and Utayq.[3]
Salma was an early convert to Islam. She was among those who were "brought to the house of Arqam"[4] to meet Muhammad, i.e., after 614 but before the Hijra.[5]
She died during the Caliphate of her son Abu Bakr between 632 and 634.[6]
Legacy
Sunnis honour her as Umm al-Khayr (Arabic: أُمّ ٱلْخَيْر), meaning "Mother of Goodness", referring to Abu Bakr, whom Sunni Muslims honour as one of The Ten Promised Paradise among Muhammad's early companions, the Sahaba.
