Juwayriyyah bint al-Harith

Juwayriyyah bint al-Ḥārith, originally named Barrah, was the daughter of al-Ḥārith ibn Abī Ḍirār, chieftain of Banū al-Muṣṭaliq. Captured along with the rest of her tribe at al-Muraysīʿ (5 AH), she was allocated to Thābit ibn Qays ibn Shammās, with whom she negotiated a mukātabah (a contract to purchase her own freedom through installment payments), a right explicitly protected in the Qurʾān (Q 24:33, "fa-kātibūhum in ʿalimtum fīhim khayrā"). She came to the Prophet's (ﷺ) house, where ʿĀʾishah was present and later narrated the account, to ask his help raising the funds. He instead offered to pay her contract himself and marry her, making her freedom her mahr. ʿĀʾishah admitted she disliked Juwayriyyah on sight, sensing the Prophet (ﷺ) would be struck by the same beauty she saw in her.

News of the marriage spread among the Anṣār, who reasoned that the Prophet's (ﷺ) new in-laws by marriage should not remain enslaved, and freed the entire captured tribe of roughly a hundred families as a result. When her father later came to ransom the family, the Prophet (ﷺ) gave Juwayriyyah the choice to return with him or remain; she chose to stay, a decision that led directly to her father's conversion and that of the whole tribe.

ʿĀʾishah later remarked she knew of no woman who brought greater blessing to her people than Juwayriyyah. She was known for her devotion in worship, the Prophet (ﷺ) once found her still seated in dhikr hours after Fajr and taught her a comprehensive phrase of tasbīḥ ("Subḥān Allāhi ʿadada khalqihi wa zinata ʿarshihi wa riḍā nafsihi wa midāda kalimātihi"), and was also gently corrected by him for singling out Friday specifically as a fasting day. She died in 50 AH at around 65 years of age.