Whenever Juwayriyyah is mentioned as one of the Prophet’s wives, the blessings she brought to her own people is often highlighted. It is universally agreed by Muslim historians that no woman brought her own people greater blessings. When she came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) seeking his help in securing the price she agreed with her master to buy her own freedom, the Prophet offered her to pay that price himself and he would marry her. She agreed, feeling that would transform her own fortunes. She little thought of the wider effect of her decision to marry the Prophet.
As we mentioned, scores of her tribesmen and women had fallen captive in their attempt to wage war against the Prophet and his companions. According to the universally applied norms at the time, these people became slaves, unless they managed to pay their own ransom. They were actually taken into Muslim people’s homes to begin their life of slavery. However, when Juwayriyyah became the Prophet’s wife, all Muslims who took a captive from her tribe, Al-Mustalaq, freed them. They said: “These people are now the Prophet’s in-laws. How can they remain our slaves?” Thus, more than a hundred families of her own people were set free, without being charged a ransom, or having to pay anything for their freedom.
We need to realize that this situation, though spontaneous, was not unexpected by the Prophet. He was fully aware that his companions would find it hard to keep his in-laws as slaves. He himself hated slavery, but he could not eradicate it by decree, since it was operated throughout the world. He was keen to reduce its chances. This marriage was proposed in the hope that it would bring about the result he thought, thus ending the slavery of yesterday’s enemies.
An ironical situation arose. Juwayriyyah’s father was keen to get her released. Therefore, he drove a number of camels and went to Madinah. As he approached, he looked at those camels and admired two of them. He thought he better keep those. Therefore, he hid them in a place of security and continued to Madinah. As he was traveling alone, he felt they would be safe in their place of hiding, and no one would know what he did. He went to Madinah and spoke thus to the Prophet: “Muhammad! You have taken my daughter captive. She is not the sort of person to be made a slave. Therefore, I brought these camels as her ransom.” The Prophet said to him: “How about those two camels you have hidden in such and such place?” The man was taken aback. He said: “I declare you are truly God’s messenger. No one has ever seen what I did other than God.”
The Prophet gave Juwayriyyah a dowry of 400 dirhams, the silver currency at the time. She lived with him for the rest of his blessed life, i.e. a little more than five years. She died during the reign of Muawiyah, but reports of the year of her death vary, suggesting that she lived until she was 65 or 70. She lived a life of complete piety and devotedness. She reported a number of hadiths, which are related in the most authentic anthologies of the Prophet’s traditions. Her life after she married the Prophet was largely uneventful. She certainly did not participate in the troublesome events that tested the Muslim community for several years toward the end of the reign of Uthman, then during the four years of Ali’s reign.
