Amina (Mother)

Amina bint Wahb was the mother of Muhammad ﷺ, from the noble clan of Banu Zuhra. Widowed before her son's birth, she raised him for his first years, then died when he was only six years old, leaving him doubly orphaned.

According to the Sira, Amina carried her pregnancy with ease and reported seeing in a dream a light streaming from her. After the birth, following Meccan custom, the child was entrusted for a time to a wet nurse of the desert, Halima.

When Muhammad ﷺ was about six years old, Amina took him to visit relatives in Yathrib (the future Medina) and to recollect at her husband Abdullah's grave. It was on the return from this journey that she fell ill and died, at al-Abwa', along the road. The child was then taken in by his grandfather Abd al-Muttalib, then, at his death, by his uncle Abu Talib.

The life of Amina recalls the sequence of trials that marked the Prophet's ﷺ childhood. Very early deprived of both parents, he learned that true support comes only from God — something the Quran would tenderly remind him of later.