Sumayyah bint Khayyat

Sumayyah bint Khayyāṭ رضي الله عنها was among the earliest Muslims and the first person in Islām to die for her faith, making her the first martyr of Islām. She was the wife of Yāsir ibn ʿĀmir and the mother of ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir. Having no tribal protection in Makkah, the family was tortured by Quraysh on the burning sands in the midday heat. She was killed by Abū Jahl when she refused to renounce Islām. When the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم passed by while they were being tortured, he said to them: 'Patience, O family of Yāsir, your appointment is Paradise.'

When Abū Jahl came to her at the torture sessions, she, a slave woman, an older woman with no protection, rebuked him to his face. She refused to submit. Abū Jahl killed her with his own spear. She was the first person to die as a martyr for Islām, and her death, along with her husband Yāsir's, is the founding sacrifice of this Ummah.