Atikah bint Abd Al-Muttalib

ʿĀtikah bint ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib was a paternal aunt of the Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ, a daughter of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, and thus a sister of al-ʿAbbās, Ḥamzah, Abū Ṭālib, Abū Lahab, and al-Ḥārith, among others. She is most famous in the Seerah for a remarkable prophetic dream she had approximately three days before the Battle of Badr.

In the dream, a rider on a camel came to the valley of Makkah and stood near the Kaʿbah, calling out three times at the top of his voice: "Ithurū yā āla ghudur!" (Arise, or Beware, O people of treachery!). People gathered around him. He then threw a great boulder from the peak of the mountain above Makkah. The boulder rolled down and shattered, sending fragments flying into every house of the Quraysh, no household was spared.

ʿĀtikah was deeply shaken and told her brother al-ʿAbbās about it in confidence, asking him to keep it secret. He passed it to al-Walīd ibn ʿUtbah in confidence, but al-Walīd told his father ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah, and the dream spread across Makkah. Abū Jahl (ʿAmr ibn Hishām) came to al-ʿAbbās and mocked: "Is it not enough that your men prophesy? Now your women do too? We give you three days, if this prophecy does not come true, we will write that the Banū ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib are the most lying family among all the Arabs."

Three days later, Damdam ibn ʿAmr al-Ghifārī arrived in Makkah on a slit-nosed camel, tearing his clothes, crying out for the Quraysh to save their caravan, setting off the chain of events that culminated in the Battle of Badr. The three calls in the dream corresponded to three days; the boulder crushing every house was fulfilled when scarcely a family in Makkah escaped the losses of Badr.

Scholars have discussed ʿĀtikah's religious status at the time of the dream. Many hold that she was already a secret believer; others place her acceptance of Islām somewhat later. She is also known as a talented poetess who composed elegies for those killed at Badr and later at Uḥud.