The reply sent to the Prophet (peace be upon him) by Al-Muqawqis, the ruler of Egypt, was courteous. It recognized that one more messenger of God was due to be sent, but he thought that he would belong to Syria. Yet in his conversation with Hatib, who carried the Prophet’s letter to him, Al-Muqawqis put some detailed questions about Muhammad (peace be upon him) and confirmed that he was the awaited Prophet. However, he made the excuse that his people, the Copts, would not act on his advice to follow Islam. He in fact did not wish to lose his position.
However that may be, Al-Muqawqis sent a generous gift to the Prophet which included two slave women. In his letter, he said that they “enjoyed great respect among the Copts.” True, indeed. Maria and her sister, Sereen, were approaching adolescence when they were taken from their village Hafn in the Ansina district on the eastern bank of the Nile to Al-Muqawqis’s palace where they were educated and groomed to serve in the palace.
The two sisters were part of a personal gift from the Egyptian ruler to the Prophet. He, however, took only Maria to himself and gave her sister to one of his companions, Hassan ibn Thabit, the renowned poet who was approaching 70 years of age. Sereen gave Hassan a son whom he named Abd Al-Rahman.
The Prophet first housed Maria in the home of his companion Harithah ibn Al-Numan, which was close to the mosque. He visited her there frequently, telling her about Islam until she accepted the faith. One report mentions that both sisters were first placed as guests at Umm Sulaym bint Milhan, before he decided to keep Maria and gift her sister to Hassan.
We mentioned in previous articles that on earlier occasions when women captives fell to the Prophet, he did not keep them as slaves. In the two cases of Juwayriyyah and Safiyyah, he freed them immediately and offered them marriage. Both accepted and became his wives and mothers of all believers. Maria’s case was different. She was a slave long before she was sent to him as a gift. Slavery was a universal institution throughout the world. Islam provides legislation for all situations. It does not like slavery. In fact, it put in place wide ranging legislation which ensured that slavery would come to an end before long.
However, the fact that this was common practice meant that Islamic legislation should address it. Answers must be given to questions such as: Is a slave maid lawful to her master? What is the position of her children? Could she be sold after giving birth? How does she regain her freedom? In many situations, the Prophet provided practical examples to demonstrate how Islamic law addresses social problems.
We have seen this regarding the question of marrying the divorcee of a former adopted son. Since Islam abolished adoption, the position of such a divorcee needed to be outlined. The Prophet gave that practical example in the case of Zayd ibn Harithah, whom he had adopted long before Islam. When Zayd divorced his wife, Zaynab bint Jahsh, the Prophet married her in compliance with God’s orders. Now he had to provide another practical example in the case of Maria.
