Hafsa bint Umar

Daughter of Umar, Mother of the Believers

Hafsa was the daughter of Umar ibn al-Khattab, born in Makkah five years before Prophethood. She first married Khunais ibn Hudhafa, one of the very early Muslims, who emigrated to Abyssinia and then to Madinah and fought at Badr; he died of his wounds, leaving her a young widow. 1 Stories of the Sahabah · pp. 246–247 — Zakariyya Kandhlawi — Hafsa's birth, her first husband Khunais ibn Hudhafa, his death of wounds, and her widowhood. Anxious for her, Umar offered her hand first to Abu Bakr, who kept silent, and then to Uthman, who declined. When Umar complained to the Prophet ﷺ, he answered that Hafsa would marry one better than Uthman, and Uthman one better than Hafsa — then married Hafsa himself and gave his own daughter Umm Kulthum to Uthman. Abu Bakr later explained that his silence had been because he knew the Prophet ﷺ intended to marry her and would not betray his confidence. 2 Stories of the Sahabah · pp. 247 — Zakariyya Kandhlawi — Umar's offers to Abu Bakr and Uthman; the Prophet's reply and his marriage to Hafsa; Abu Bakr's later explanation.

A Devoted Worshipper

Hafsa was given to long fasting by day and prayer by night. The Prophet ﷺ once divorced her, but was commanded to take her back — Gabriel describing her as one who fasts and stands in prayer, and a favour to Umar as well. 3 Stories of the Sahabah · pp. 248 — Zakariyya Kandhlawi — Hafsa's devotion to fasting and night prayer; the divorce and Gabriel's instruction to take her back. The authentic report of this reconciliation is preserved in the Sunan (see Virtues in the Hadith).

Keeper of the Collected Qur’an

When Abu Bakr had the Qur’an gathered into a single manuscript after the deaths of so many reciters at Yamamah, that precious collection passed to Umar and then was entrusted to Hafsa’s keeping. It was from her care that Uthman later borrowed it to prepare the standard codices he sent to the great cities — so that the Mother of the Believers was the guardian of the Book in its first written whole. 4 History of Islam · Vol 1 · pp. 395–396 — Najeebabadi — the collected Qur'an kept with Hafsa; Uthman borrows it from her to copy the standard codex.

Virtues in the Hadith

Her own father narrated the Prophet’s ﷺ return to her after the divorce:

أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ طَلَّقَ حَفْصَةَ ثُمَّ رَاجَعَهَا

”…that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ divorced Hafsa, then took her back.”

Sunan Abi Dawud 2283 · Book 13, Hadith 109 · English: Book 12, Hadith 2276 · narrated by Umar ibn al-Khattab · graded Sahih (al-Albani)

Death & Legacy

Hafsa lived until Jumada al-Ula, 45 AH, dying at about sixty-three and buried among the Mothers of the Believers in Jannat al-Baqi — remembered as a woman of worship and the keeper of the Qur’an in its first collected form. 5 Stories of the Sahabah · pp. 248 — Zakariyya Kandhlawi — Hafsa's death in Jumada al-Ula 45 AH, aged about 63.