Maymuna bint al-Harith: The Last Wife of the Prophet ﷺ (UK British Muslim Guide)

The last woman the Prophet ﷺ ever married

Maymuna bint al-Harith — the last of the Prophet's ﷺ eleven wives — is one of the quieter figures in Islamic history, but her story carries some of the most distinctive details. She was the only one of his wives to marry him during the small pilgrimage of Dhu al-Qaʿdah 7 AH (629 CE), and the only Mother of the Believers to die in the very valley where she had been married. The geographic memory of her life is so distinctive that the place she met the Prophet ﷺ at the wedding — Saraf — became a known waypoint on the road from Makkah to Madinah for centuries afterwards.

This guide tells her story carefully and draws out the lessons her quiet, principled life carries for British Muslim women today.

Her name and lineage

Her birth name was Barrah; the Prophet ﷺ renamed her Maymuna, which means "blessed" — a name suggesting good omen and divine grace. She was from Banu Hilal, a branch of the Hawazin tribe, and the sister of two other women already prominently connected to the Prophet's family: Lubaba bint al-Harith (the wife of his uncle al-ʿAbbas) and Asma bint al-Harith. She had been widowed twice before her marriage to the Prophet ﷺ, having previously been married to Masʿud ibn ʿAmr al-Thaqafi and Abu Ruhm ibn ʿAbd al-ʿUzza. By the time of her marriage to the Prophet ﷺ she was approximately 26 years old.

Her marriage to the Prophet ﷺ

The marriage took place in unusual circumstances. In Dhu al-Qaʿdah 7 AH, the Prophet ﷺ travelled to Makkah to perform the ʿumrat al-qaḍaʾ — the "compensatory ʿumrah" agreed under the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, which permitted Muslims to enter Makkah for three days. During these three days, Maymuna's brother-in-law al-ʿAbbas (the Prophet's ﷺ uncle, still living in Makkah at the time and not yet openly Muslim) acted as the wakil for her hand, and the marriage was contracted.

The Prophet ﷺ wished to consummate the marriage in Makkah, but the Quraysh — under the terms of Hudaybiyyah — insisted that the Muslims leave at the end of the three agreed days. Rather than break the treaty, the Prophet ﷺ left Makkah as required. He left his servant Abu Rafiʿ behind to escort Maymuna out of the sacred precinct. She caught up with the Prophet ﷺ at a place called Saraf, several miles outside Makkah, and the marriage was consummated there.

Maymuna was the last woman the Prophet ﷺ ever married. He took no further wives in the remaining four years of his life.

Her hadith narrations

Maymuna narrated 76 hadith from the Prophet ﷺ — a substantial contribution, particularly given the relative shortness of her marriage to him. Among her best-known narrations are several details about ablution, ritual purification, and the Prophet's ﷺ daily personal habits, since as a wife she observed these directly. Her hadith on the Prophet's ﷺ method of performing ghusl (full ritual bath) is the standard reference in classical fiqh on the subject.

For British Muslim women interested in studying classical Islamic sciences, the fact that the methodology of one of the basic acts of worship was preserved through a woman's testimony — and through a woman whose marriage to the Prophet ﷺ lasted only a few years — is worth pausing on. Female scholarship is not a modern innovation in Islam; it is foundational to the science of hadith.

Her death in Saraf — full circle

Maymuna died in 51 AH (671 CE) — approximately 41 years after the Prophet's ﷺ death — at the same place where she had been married, the valley of Saraf outside Makkah. The narration is poignant: she fell ill while travelling on the route between Madinah and Makkah, and she expressly asked to die in Saraf. ʿAbdullah ibn ʿAbbas (RA), her nephew, was present at her death and led the funeral arrangements. She was buried at Saraf, and her grave was a known pilgrimage site for centuries afterwards. To this day, modern travellers between Makkah and Madinah pass close to her resting place.

The symmetry of her life — meeting the Prophet ﷺ as a bride at Saraf, returning to die there 44 years later — has been reflected on by Muslim scholars and writers as a quietly profound mark of Allah's decree.

Her character

The classical biographers consistently describe Maymuna as one of the most pious of the Mothers of the Believers. ʿAisha (RA) reportedly said of her: "Among us she was the most fearing of Allah and the best at maintaining the bonds of kinship." She was known for fasting frequently, for spending long periods of the night in prayer, and for being conspicuously charitable.

Her relationship with the other Mothers of the Believers was largely peaceful. Some classical biographies note that, like all the Prophet's ﷺ wives, there were occasional moments of jealousy between them — particularly directed towards Aisha (RA), whom the Prophet ﷺ openly loved, and Maria the Copt, who bore the Prophet ﷺ his son. These details are recorded honestly by the early biographers; they remind us that the Mothers of the Believers were human women, not idealised abstractions, and their human responses are part of why they are knowable to us today.

Lessons for British Muslim women

1. A short marriage is not a small marriage

Maymuna's marriage to the Prophet ﷺ lasted approximately four years. From it came 76 hadith, the methodology of the basic acts of worship, and a place in the Mothers of the Believers. The duration of a marriage is not the measure of its impact. British Muslim widows and divorcees, whose marriages may have ended after a year or after thirty, can take from Maymuna's life the truth that what mattered was what she did with the time she had — not how long it lasted.

2. Naming traditions carry weight

Her birth name Barrah was changed by the Prophet ﷺ to Maymuna. Renaming someone — particularly with a name expressing blessing and good omen — is a sunnah that British Muslim parents can revive in their own naming choices. Many British Muslim families choose to use a child's "Islamic" name in religious contexts and a more easily-pronounced English version at school; Maymuna's story shows this is consistent with sunnah practice.

3. The hidden women of scholarship are foundational

Maymuna narrated more hadith than many famous male Companions. The fact that her name appears less often in popular books, despite the volume and importance of her contribution, is worth noting. British Muslim girls studying Islamic sciences should understand that the historical absence of female scholars from popular discourse is not the same as their absence from the actual record.

4. Saraf and the dignity of place

Maymuna's request to die in the same place where she had married the Prophet ﷺ is a quiet act of love and remembrance. For British Muslim families with deep ties to particular cities or regions — Bradford, Cardiff, Glasgow, Tower Hamlets — there is a precedent here for valuing the dignity of place, the memory of moments, and the quiet act of returning home to die.

Maymuna and the wider family of the Prophet ﷺ

Through her sister Lubaba, Maymuna was the maternal aunt of the great early scholar ʿAbdullah ibn ʿAbbas (RA), whose tafsir is foundational to Quranic interpretation. Through her sister Salma, she was related to Khalid ibn al-Walid, the great Muslim general. The wider Banu Hilal family included generations of scholars, soldiers and statesmen of early Islam.

For British Muslim families, the takeaway is that a single woman's contribution to her household can ripple outward across generations and across countries. Maymuna did not seek power, but the family she belonged to shaped early Islamic history.

Frequently asked questions

Where to go next

For more on the Mothers of the Believers, see our guides on Juwairia bint al-Harith, Maria the Copt and Maryam bint ʿImran. For the broader theme of women's status in Islam, see our pillar How Islam Honoured Women.

To study the Quran or hadith with an Al-Azhar-graduate teacher, with female teachers available on request, book a free 30-minute trial lesson.