Skip to content
Joyful Muslims
Join the list
ʿ
Mother of the Believers

Ḥafṣah bint ʿUmar

حفصة بنت عمر

Dates
605–665 CE / 18 BH–45 AH
Relation to the Prophet ﷺ
Wife of the Prophet ﷺ; daughter of ʿUmar
Umm al-MuʾminīnKeeper of the Muṣḥaf
Known for

The wife to whom the first collected muṣḥaf of the Qurʾan was entrusted after Abū Bakr's death.

Life

Ḥafṣah was widowed young when her first husband died of wounds sustained at Badr. The Prophet ﷺ married her — in part, the scholars say, to honor ʿUmar and his house. She was literate, which was rare, and she memorised the whole Qurʾan.

When Abū Bakr commissioned the first complete written muṣḥaf, it was stored in Ḥafṣah's house after his death. When ʿUthmān later produced the canonical standard, he borrowed Ḥafṣah's copy to verify against. She died in Madinah around 665 CE.

Also from this generation

Notify me at launch