Umm Mahjan (ra): The Woman Who Cleaned the Masjid

To some, she was just the masjid’s janitor. But to the Prophet ﷺ, she was more noble than many. Not much is known about the life of Umm Mahjan (ra). But what we do know is enough to emulate. When she died, the Prophet ﷺ immediately noticed her absence and gave her a special funeral. Learn what he ﷺ said at her gravesite.

Transcript

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Alhamdulillah Brahmeen, dear brothers and sisters, the life of the Prophet and the companions around him continues to give us so much. And as I said, subhanAllah, every single sahabi, you fall in love with the Prophet over and over and over again. The next category of people that we're going to cover, bidnallahi ta'ala, are people who hit a little bit different, inshaAllah ta'ala, in regards to that love because their biographies are short, but the one or two recorded interactions that you have about the Prophet with them are so profoundly beautiful and awe-inspiring and give us so many lessons that they're actually so practical. And so consider the next three biographies, inshaAllah ta'ala to be Shema'al class. A lesson in how the Prophet used to deal with people. Particularly the next three that we're going to cover, inshaAllah ta'ala, are of the category of the unnoticed. They're the people that disappear in the community. They're the people that others don't say salam to. They are the people that no one asks about. They're the people that go and come and no one even knows that they were there in the first place. And the more involved you are in the community's affairs, the less likely you are to notice them. Right? And so, subhanAllah, I'll say this from the perspective of an imam. Like it's the hardest for an imam to keep track of these things, right? Or for someone that's dealing with the masjid at a macro level. But somehow the Prophet not only notices these people, but he gives them an incredible stature. And so we're going to go through three biographies, inshaAllah ta'ala, short biographies, Bidn Lahi Ta'ala. The next season of the first, we're going to actually do the Mawali, the Freed Slaves in the presence of the Prophet, which is actually a whole set of biographies, inshaAllah Ta'ala, about 10 to 15 biographies that we'll cover when we get there, Bidn Lahi Ta'ala. So the people that we're covering today are not necessarily from the Mawali, but they fit the same mold of those who were most prone to exploitation in society and most easily forgotten, right? So we'll start with a very famous story: the woman that used to clean the masdid. And before I start with her, I actually want to give this introduction about the virtues of cleaning the masd. You know, subhanAllah, so that the next time you walk outside and you see a bag of chips or you see something laying on the ground, inshaAllah, maybe you'll take this into consideration. Sulaiman ibn Samurah, Rahimu Allah, he narrates an abihi samurah, that he wrote to his son as his son was far away, and he said to proceed for inna rasulallahi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam ataha wanu tahiraha. That the Prophet used to command us to build masajid in our localities, and he used to command us to keep them well and to keep them clean and to keep them pure. That the Prophet used to explicitly give these instructions. So when you build a masjid in a place, don't just build it and neglect it. Make sure that the upkeep is also there. And I want you to think about the rapid construction of masajid in the time of the Prophet. Like right now, when you walk around Medina and you find the ruins, like he was only there for a decade, sallallahu alayhi wasallam. But there is a masjid in every hai, a masjid in every single area. Every neighborhood had a masjid. And you can still find its ruins today for the most part. Right? The Prophet would say, build the masjid, take care of it, build the masjid, take care of it, build the masjid, take care of it. So what ends up happening is that a whole society, a whole neighborhood, gets into their mindset in the time of the Prophet, that the center of our neighborhood is the masjid, and everyone is responsible for its upkeep. So the kids grow up with a mindset towards it, the adults grow up with a mindset towards it. And the ilama say in the commentary on this hadith, because this is a letter that's being given as an instruction, that as fast as Islam spread before the sahaba built their homes in a place, they built the masjid first. So it was like a sunnah that had some repetition to it that when the Prophet came to Medina, the masjid took precedence over his own home. Likewise, when the Sahaba went anywhere in the world, the masjid took precedence over their own homes. But the Prophet used to also uh indicate that they should be kept clean. Aisha radiallahu ta'ala anhash, he narrates, Qaraat Amar Rasulullah, that the Prophet commanded us to build multiple masajid in the different locations and different localities. And that they should be cleaned and they should be perfumed. So you'll find entire chapters in the books of hadith about the scent of the masjid. How does the masjid smell? And it gives you some context to like your breath, like that you're you're part of the ibadah. You know, you're engaging in individual ibadah and you're beautifying the masjid when you brush your teeth before you come to the masjid, right? And you put on you know something that smells good, that you don't bring any foul stench to, the masjid. And in one narration, it's mentioned that the Prophet used to be in the masjid, cleaning it with his own hands to the extent, I want you to think about this, so you don't think that this belongs to a particular type, to the extent that he was seeing peeling dried snot off of his minbar, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Like you think who wiped their nose out of all places you could find was the minbar of the Prophet, look, people were learning. This was rapid conversion happening. Okay? So you had the story of the man that urinated in the masjid. Like, all right, like he came to the masjid, got off his camel, he looked around, he went to the corner of the masjid, and just started urinating. Okay? People are learning pretty quickly, and they're of different classes and different backgrounds. And, you know, just yesterday they didn't even know that there was an unseen God or there was anything beyond this world. They were relegated to bones and dirt. And now they're being told that there is Allah Azwajal and there is the houses of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and you have to treat it with this way. And Anas ibn Malik radiallahu ta'ala anhusad, and I'll just move on from here because the hadith are numerous and beautiful, that uh the Prophet, uh Nuhamatan, uh, he saw one time, some snot, some dried snot. Nukama could be like, not to get too descriptive, but someone spit something out and it stuck, or it could be from the nose, but it stuck, and it was a lot. And she says, that the Prophet got upset and his face turned red. Okay? So a woman from the ansar got up. She saw the face of the Prophet and she got up. And she scratched it off herself. And she, you know, she then cleaned it up and she put some perfume in its place. And the Prophet smiled. And he said, like what a beautiful action that she just did. Is this the same woman that we're talking about? Allah knows best. These are the things that are left to the Muhaddithen. But just how that small action made the Prophet so happy, so quickly he went from being upset, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, that someone had the disregard and he would have gone and cleaned it himself. He became overjoyed, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, by the simple act of a woman to go then and to clean it. And he said, Ma'a assanahava, what a beautiful example that was just set. What a beautiful small deed that was just set. The ulama would say, you know, subhanAllah, give this a layer. And I couldn't find this in writing, but I do remember one of my Shiuk and Hadith commenting on this. He said, If the Prophet said, I saw someone strolling in Jannah because he removed something harmful from the road. And he said, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, that the lowest act of iman, the lowest branch of iman is imatatul adariq to remove something harmful from the road, then imagine imatu tulla, to remove something harmful from the houses of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So I never want you to see that bug or that tissue or that thing ever again, the same way when you're walking out or you're walking in this place. Always think that's Jannah right there. That's my Jannah right there. If the Prophet would say, Ma'ahsanahada, how good is that? Allah Azza wa Jal would say, Ma'aqsa nahada. How good is that? And it might be that that small action is what gets you into Jannah. Another contrast that I was thinking about when we talk about this woman, Ba'idnillahi Ta'ala. You contrast subhanAllah, this woman who is mentioned by the name of her husband as carrying the firewood of hellfire. Who are we talking about? The wife of Abu Laha. And what was her crime? That she used to drop adha, she used to drop garbage, filth, right, in front of the Prophet's house. She would obstruct his path with adha. Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And her royalty burns with her in hell. Whereas this woman that we're going to talk about is from a completely humble background. We don't know much about her at all, but she becomes royalty in the hadith of the Prophet amongst the most royal generation of all being, the Sahaba of the Prophet. So who is this woman? Her name comes in two ways mahjanah or ummijan. Mahjana or Ummi Mehjan. So um mihjana or mahjanah. Bint who, we don't know. We don't know who she's the daughter of. We don't know what tribe she's from. We know nothing but the first name. Everything else is very subjective. And you have to piece her biography through several narrations. And sometimes there's an assumption being made that this is the same woman being spoken about here. So, like in the hadith that I mentioned about the woman that went and quickly dried this not. It would make sense that if there was a woman that used to look after the masjid and she saw it and she went there quicker, that it was expected in the Prophet found happiness in her action. And there's one story that potentially is her backstory, and it makes the most sense to be her backstory because of the way that it ends. Aisha radiallahu ta'ala anha. She says that there was a woman that used to clean the masjid in Medina, and I used to go sit with her, and she would sit with me and we would talk. I used to enjoy her company. Already tells you, by the way, the breaking down of barriers in society. Aisha radiallahu ta'ala anha ummul mu'mineen, the mother of the believers, the wife of the Prophet. And she said, I used to enjoy going and talking to her. Now she's next door. The masjid of the Prophet is the house. So that means that sometimes at night, perhaps. That means that sometimes after the salah, when everyone has left, you have the visual of Aisha radiallahu ta'ala anha sitting in the corner talking to the woman that's cleaning the masjid. And Aisha radiallahu ta'a anha said that she had this poem that she kept on reciting. And the Arabs were known for abiyat. The Arabs had these lines. Like it wasn't uncommon to find a person that would have that line of poetry that they always would say to themselves and hum to themselves. We find it with numerous companions. Her line was, and the day of the red scarf was an amazing miracle from the Lord. And verily he saved me from a disbelieving people. So one day she said, I asked her, I always hear you saying this. So you can imagine her going around the Mazda cleaning up, and she keeps saying this statement to herself. And what is it? So she sat me down and she told me the story. She said that I was a slave girl amongst the people. And the implication is that she was from Habashah, Habashia. Okay? So she was from Abyssinia, somewhere from Africa in the broadest sense. Habasha in the broadest sense. We don't know what part exactly, what tribe, anything like that, right? But she said that I was a slave girl amongst the people. And I used to take care of the daughter of the head of the tribe. So he was a powerful man. My master was a powerful man. And his daughter was, you know, under my care. And he said, so one day we were on a journey. You can imagine her on the journey taking care of the daughter of this man. And she had a wishah, this like precious red scarf. Okay. And she says that when she went to sleep and she put her red scarf to the side, and it was made of something special, or it was, you know, very shiny. She said that this bird came and picked it up and took it away. Okay? So as the bird came and picked it up and took it away, she theorizes that maybe it thought it was some kind of meat or there was some kind of food or whatever it is, but just swooped in and took it away. So the girl wakes up, starts touching herself, looks to the side, and she starts to cry out that someone stole my red scarf. Okay? So the master comes, who's her dad, and says to me, What happens? Because I'm supposed to be the caretaker, you know, I'm not supposed to sleep. Everybody else goes to sleep. I have to watch everything, right? Like that's the expectation. She's the first one to blame. So she said, I said, Wallahi, while she was sleeping, a bird came and took it and went away with it, thinking that it was some kind of food or there was some kind of food inside of it. And what did the master say to her? The master said, You couldn't come up with a more creative lie than this. That's the best you can do. A bird came and took her scarf. That's all you've got. Now, subhanAllah, she then says, and this is the harsh reality of the life that she's coming from, and she's sharing it with Aisha radiallahu ta'ala anha. She says that they then strung me up and they did not leave a single part of my body except that they stripped me and they beat me. They searched me and they beat me. So I became the victim for something I didn't do at all. They took me, they put me in the middle, started to beat me, they started to search me, they violated me. And obviously, this is a very traumatic incident. And she's like, a bird came and took the red scarf. I didn't take it. And then she says that while they're doing this, suddenly the bird swoops in and drops the red scarf right between them. So when they saw that, the father, the master, felt so bad for what he did that he freed her. So her freedom came because of this incident. So subhanAllah, she says, and while that happened, so she's somewhere in the Arab world now, right? She said, I heard that the Prophet, that the Prophet had appeared here, and I was curious about what's going on here. So she said, I came to Medina and I found the Prophet and I embraced Islam. SubhanAllah, and she said, and that's the meaning of Wayoman Wishahim, that day was such an incredible day, one of the miracles of the Lord. Verily he saved me from a disbelieving people. SubhanAllah, pause here. You have no idea the story of these people, right? The stories that are in your masjid. How Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala brought someone to the masjid of the Prophet. You think about all the things that had to go wrong, right? But to bring her to that moment where she is, just by virtue of meeting the Prophet and believing in him, a Muslima, a Mu'mina, a Sahabiyya. So if it just stops at that, she gets to now belong to not just the Muslims and Ummat Muhammad and earn her salvation on the day of judgment because a bird came and stole a red scarf and threw it back and all this stuff, but she gets to be from the Sahabiyat. That in and of itself is enough. But she says, She had like a uh a kibah. A khibah is like a tent that's made of uh leather. It's like a long-standing tent. You know, the Arabs used to have tents that they would pitch for short journeys, and they had tents that were made for long-term endurance. So a khibah means something that's a semi-permanent type of uh tent uh that she had in the masjid or a hifsh, it's more like a hut. Okay, so you can imagine when you came into the Prophet's masjid, you had Ahl Sufa, then you had this woman that lived in the masjid, she had her tent, she had her little hut, and basically when uh the sahaba would finish their salah and they would leave when the masjid would empty out, she'd go around and she'd clean it up and she would perfume the masjid as well. So this is the woman, subhanAllah, look at the story that's behind her. This is the woman that's going around and perfuming the masjid and cleaning it up until Bila radiallahu ta'ala who comes out and gives the adam. Like you think about the community that the Prophet is building and the empowerment and the love and the reverence, right? Like the stories of these people, subhanAllah, is they're building a new home for themselves and a new life for themselves. And the Prophet honored her, of course, in a very special way. Now you come to the hadith of Abu Hurairah, Radiallahu Ta'ala anhu, about what appears to be the same woman, right? He says, Radiallahu ta'ala anhu, that there was a woman that used to clean the masjid of the Prophet, and the only detail he mentions is that she was African. He doesn't mention anything else about her. We don't know anything about her. And he says that one day the Messenger of Allah came out and he noticed that she was missing. So he asked, Where is she? Came out and asked, Where is she? And they said she died. And subhanallah, the Prophet noticed that she was missing and he missed her. Like he immediately catches these types of things in his masjid. What do you mean she died? So Ya Rasulullah, she died, it was nighttime. We didn't want to wake you up, right? Like it was late, and you know, some of the women came, they took care of it, they did her ghusul, and we prayed janaz on her, and we we buried her. The Prophet says, Afala kuntum adantumuni. I mean, couldn't you have come and told me what happened? And Abu Huraira, he's the one who says, It seems like they belittled her affair. Like they didn't realize how much she meant to the Prophet and how great she actually was, like her rank actually was. So they said, Ya Rasulullah, I mean, we're sorry, we didn't know, we honestly just didn't want to bother you. And the implication is if this was a woman of status or if this was someone else, then obviously it would have been like an announcement on the groups, right? And people would have come and they would have carpooled, and it would have been something, figuratively, of course. Ya Rasulullah was just the woman that used to clean the masjid, just one of the freed slave women, we don't know anything about her. What's the big deal? The Prophet was so upset. So he said, Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, dulunya ala kabriha, fadaluhu, fasalla aliha. The Prophet said, Take me to her grave, take me to where you buried her. So they took the Prophet to her and he prayed on her, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, a separate janazah. And he said, Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, in naha dihil kobura, mamlu atungul matana ala a aliha, that verily these graves are full of darkness for their occupants. And verily Allah gives light to these graves by my praying upon these people. Almost to say, don't ever think that anyone is so insignificant again. Because the difference between my preying upon someone when they pass away and my not praying upon them could be the darkness and the light. Do not belittle her situation. There's an alternative narration that's weaker. That the Prophet, so the first one is Mutafa Kun Ali. It's actually narrated in the six books and it's authentic. Um there's another narration that's a little bit longer that the Prophet saw a fresh grave and that piqued his interest. So you can imagine, like seeing a fresh grave, and the baqir is not that many people, and the Prophet's house is between the masjid and the baqir, and then also noticing that a person is missing, and he says, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, who is this? And they say, Um Majjan. So this is where the name actually comes out from. Um the Prophet says, Alati khanatum al masjid? You mean the one that used to live in the masjid and care for the masjid?

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Said yes. So the Prophet lined up the people, and he prayed upon her. Now in this narration, which is weaker, okay, which is weaker. And there is a weakness in the chain. And so I mention it just to if you see it and you see the virtue of it, it's one of those things that we can't confirm happened. But subhanAllah, the beautiful, the beauty of the entire story comes out. That he said, Ayyul Amali wajati aflal. Like he was talking to her, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Which deed did you find to be the best? Faqalu Ya Rasulullah, atasma. They said, Ya Rasulullah, does she hear you? Like which deed have you found to be the most hopeful for you in this regard? And the Prophet said, Ma'antum bi asma'a minha, you do not hear better than her, meaning that Allah causes her to hear. And we know that this is established through other places that the Prophet addressed Abu Jahl, right? And the enemies and said, Have you found the promise of Allah to be true? The promise of punishment. So uh in this situation, the Prophet is saying that she also hears me. Um, Fadakara Annaha ajabatu sallallahu alaihu alayhi wasallam that it's then mentioned that she responded to the Prophet from her grave, and she said to Qummul Masjid that it was the cleaning up of the masjid. So this is the first woman, Radiallahu Ta'ala anha, um mihjan. May Allah be pleased with her and have mercy on her. And this is all that we know about her. So, what did the ulama derive from her story? Obviously, number one, the virtue of cleaning the masjid, obviously, they'll talk about that, and it's the most obvious one. Number two, the right of the janazah of a Muslim, even when that Muslim is unknown. That one of the sunnah that gets lost amongst the people is to not pray janazah. If you didn't notice them in life, you don't notice them in death. Okay? If you didn't notice them in life, you don't notice them in death. Number three, the status in the akramakum in Dallahi, Atqa kum. Verily, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is your taqwa, is your piety. This took time to learn, like this takes time to practice. Not everyone gets this right away, right? We have the narrations where you have some of the Jahaliya, the day, the ignorance that comes back, it resurfaces. The tribalism was still fresh, the elitism is still fresh, all of these things are still fresh. It takes time to just get away from the ignorance of it, but to get to a point where this woman is actually akram minkum, she's actually more noble than you, is a very, very hard uh thing for people to actually come to terms with and to actually um understand. And obviously, the stories that people have, subhanallah, that Allah sets them in different directions so that they can arrive at the place that is best for them, to dunya wal ahira in this life and the next. So this is um mihjana, radiallahu ta'ala anha, or ma'jana, radiallahu ta'ala anha, and that's all we know about her, alati qanat, taqum al-masjid, the one that used to clean the masjid, perfume the masjid, and take care of it, and has an incredible story behind her.