Sawda bint Zam'a

The First Wife After Khadija

Sawda bint Zam’a was of the Quraysh and an early Muslim. With her husband and cousin Sukran ibn Amr she embraced Islam and emigrated to Abyssinia; when Sukran died there, she returned to Makkah a widow. After the death of Khadija, the Prophet ﷺ married Sawda — the first wife he took after Khadija — in Shawwal of that year of sorrow. 1 Stories of the Sahabah · pp. 243 — Zakariyya Kandhlawi — Sawda and Sukran's early Islam and emigration to Abyssinia; her widowhood; the Prophet marries her after Khadija's death.

Devotion and Selflessness

She shared in the Prophet’s ﷺ long night prayer; once, standing behind him in tahajjud, she found his bowing so prolonged that she feared a nosebleed from the strain. In her later years, not wishing to be divorced, she gave up her day and night to Aisha, desiring above all to remain one of the Prophet’s ﷺ wives in Paradise — and he agreed. 2 Stories of the Sahabah · pp. 243–244 — Zakariyya Kandhlawi — Sawda's tahajjud behind the Prophet; her giving her turn to Aisha so as not to be divorced, wishing to be his wife in Paradise.

Death & Legacy

Sawda died in Madinah in her later years, around 54 AH, remembered as a woman of prayer and humility and the first to share the Prophet’s ﷺ home after Khadija. 3 Stories of the Sahabah · pp. 244 — Zakariyya Kandhlawi — Sawda's death in her later years.