The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was once taking a nap in the house of a pious woman, Umm Haram bint Milhan. He woke up smiling. Umm Haram asked him why he was smiling.
He said that he had seen members of his Ummah in the path of Allah riding on the sea like kings on their thrones.
She immediately said: “Ask Allah to make me among them, Messenger of Allah!”
The Prophet did so and then put his head down and went back to sleep.
Once again, he woke up smiling, once again Umm Haram asked him why, and once again he told her that he had seen members of his Ummah riding on the sea.
Once again she said: “Ask Allah to make me among them, Messenger of Allah!”
This time he said: “You will be among the first of them.”
Years later she joined the first Muslim naval expedition which sailed to the island of Cyprus. And on that expedition, she fell off her mule and died.
(Sahih al-Bukhari No 7001/7002 and Sahih Muslim No 1912)
Umm Haram had a special relationship with Allah’s Beloved ﷺ . The scholars offer various explanations as to the nature of the relationship, some saying that she was the Prophet’s aunt through breastfeeding. The same is said about her sister, Umm Sulaym, the mother of Anas bin Malik. It is clear that it was a very special relationship and there are many instances of the Prophet resting in both of these women’s houses. On this occasion, Umm Haram gave the Prophet some food to eat and then she combed his hair and he fell asleep. Now the dreams of Prophets are not like everyone else’s. In fact, Prophets receive a type of revelation through dreams. While sleeping in a simple house in Madinah, the Prophet saw future events which seemed far-fetched to say the least. Who would have imagined that the Companions would one day assemble a fleet to carry out naval expeditions, especially since the Muslims were still outnumbered on the Arabian Peninsula, let alone further afield? But this was what the Prophet witnessed. And rather than being terrified, these people were riding the high seas like kings on their thrones, completely at ease and in control of the situation. The Prophet woke up smiling having seen this. He was happy to see people from his Ummah in a commanding position travelling to new lands in the path of Allah, spreading truth and removing falsehood.
The Companions always wanted to know what made the Prophet happy, what good news he might have and what revelation he might have received. They knew that what pleased the Prophet pleased Allah. Umm Haram asked what the Prophet had seen and he told her. She immediately requested to be among those whom he had seen in his dream. He prayed that she would be and then put his head down and went back to sleep. He slept for a time and then once again awoke smiling. The same vision had been given to him and Umm Haram asked a second time to be among those special people. This time, the Prophet told her not only that she would be among them, but that she would be among the first of them. Umm Haram had seen what had made the Prophet happy and she wanted to be part of it. The thing itself – in this case travelling on the sea – wasn’t important. If the Prophet had seen people going into space and was happy about it, then she would have asked to among those people. She seized the opportunity of being alone with the Prophet and being the first person to hear about his dream. She asked not once but twice and she got what she asked for. This was regardless of the fact that she was a woman and that ordinary travel was perilous enough. Travelling by sea was something else entirely.
Time passed, and in the year 28 of the Hijrah (648), the decision was made by the khalifah Sayyiduna Uthman that a naval expedition would set out to Cyprus. Umm Haram was no longer a young woman, but she insisted on accompanying her husband, Ubadah bin Samit, on the expedition. She had not forgotten that the Prophet had told her that she would be among the first to join such an expedition. And so it was that she rode aboard one of the ships along with other great Companions like Abu Dharr al-Ghifari and Abu Darda’, may Allah be pleased with them all. They rode, as the Prophet had said, like kings on their thrones. After landing on Cyprus, Umm Haram was mounting her mule when it bucked and threw her onto the ground. The fall broke her neck and she died. It could be said that it was a sad end for this great woman but that couldn’t be further from the truth. She had sacrificed everything and she died as a martyr in the path of Allah. She had spent her last days doing something which had made the Prophet smile. And when she left this life and met the beloved Messenger, we can only imagine how happy they would both have been.
Umm Haram’s resting place near Larnaca in Cyprus is well known. During the Ottoman administration of Cyprus, a mosque complex was built around the tomb. The complex is known as Hala Sultan Tekke (see image above). It is said that Ottoman ships steering close to the southern shore of the island of Cyprus used to fire a cannon, a fitting salute to Umm Haram bint Milhan, may Allah be pleased with her.