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Umm Waraqah bint 'Abdullah b. Al-Harith Ansariahرضي الله عنه was a woman who wanted to fight in the way of Allah and to become a martyr. While an army was being established for the Battle of Badr, she went to the Prophet (pbuh) and said, “O Messenger of Allah! Will you allow me to take part in the army? I will cure the wounded soldiers and look after the patients. Maybe Allah will allow me to become a martyr." However, the Prophet (pbuh) did not allow women to participate in the Battle of Badr. Nevertheless, he said to Umm Waraqah bint 'Abdullah b. Al-Harith Ansariahرضي الله عنه, “Allah will allow you to become a martyr. After that incident, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) addressed her as "martyr" whenever he saw her.
But there is one particular question that as we covered the qurra, the reciters around Rasulullahﷺ, came up a few times, particularly from the sisters. Was there any female hafidhah? Were there any women who memorized the Qur'an alongside those luminaries that we mentioned that preserved the Qur'an? And to preface that answer you have to start off with the fact that literacy as a whole, literacy as a whole was not common to the Arabs. So if literacy rates were poor as a whole, then naturally you will find that the literacy rates for women would be less than men in that society. So there weren't many people who could read or write at the time. They were few and those who could read and write ended up becoming scribes of Rasulullahﷺ and from the women that number would even be much less of people that could read and write at the time. But there is one particular woman who was known to have gathered the Qur'an, to have memorized the Qur'an, and to have been proficient in its memorization and its recitation.
And her name is Umm Warakah bint Abdullah ibn al-Harith. Umm Warakah bint Abdullah ibn al-Harith رضي الله عنه,. Now her story is that she was a very wealthy woman, a very noble woman from Al-Khazraj in Madinah and she basically was the sought-after woman at the time when Islam came to Al-Madinah. And SubhanAllah when she embraced the da'wah of Mus'ab ibn Umair رضي الله عنه before the coming of Rasulullahﷺ, she had unique circumstances that allowed her to excel in immediately memorizing the Qur'an.
For one, she was one of the few literate women who existed in Al-Madinah, one of the few literate people periods but she also was literate. The second thing is that she inherited a huge amount of wealth. So she wasn't someone that had to worry about her wealth or her day to day and she wasn't someone that was involved in the politics of Al-Madinah before the coming of Islam. So she wasn't involved in Bu'ath, she wasn't involved in any of the wars that took place. So she really had the opportunity to immediately dedicate herself exclusively to the Qur'an, exclusively to the da'wah of Mus'ab ibn Umair رضي الله عنه which of course was the da'wah of Rasulullahﷺ.
Now when Rasulullahﷺ came to Madinah, she was one of those who dedicated herself amongst the mothers of the believers and amongst some of the female scholars at the time with particular proficiency in the recitation of the Qur'an and there is something that surrounds her of a controversy of sorts which is that Rasulullahﷺ told her to lead the people of her household in prayer. So when you have the controversy and when I say controversy it's not a controversy within the tradition, it's a controversy obviously a modern controversy that those that try to suggest, the people that try to suggest that Rasulullahﷺ had allowed for a woman to lead a mixed congregation of men and women, men and women used the narration of Umm Waraqah رضي الله عنه that when she came to Rasulullahﷺ and she memorized the Qur'an and she was literate and she clearly became scholarly and distinguished pretty early on, Rasulullahﷺ commanded her to lead her home in prayer.
The problem is that there is no indication, it's such an ambiguous narration to use for something so extreme in terms of overturning the consensus in that regard to say that Umm Waraqah رضي الله عنه's narration justifies that. The only thing we have is that Rasulullahﷺ commanded her to lead the folk in her home, who could have been children, that could have been servants because again she was a very wealthy woman at the time, it could have meant many things, it could have meant unique circumstances but what we do know is that she was someone who was a distinguished reciter of the Qur'an and she used to teach the women of Madinah the Qur'an and she used to recite the Qur'an amongst the most proficient of the reciters.
Now subhanallah the next several biographies we're going to cover, all of them have significant twists and turns. These stories are not all rosy in the sense that there is a lot of difficulty these people encounter. Umm Waraqah رضي الله عنه came to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam and asked the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam something very specific and this is the spirit of the ansar of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. She came to Rasulullahﷺ at the time of Badr, when the battle of Badr is taking place and she said to Rasulullahﷺ, [ Ya Rasulullah, i'dhin li fil ghazwi maak], O Messenger of Allah let me go out and battle with you, let me be a part of the battle with you and she said, [Umaridu mardaakum], and even if it's just there to treat the sick amongst you but I want to be there in the battlefield with you. Now when she says I want to be there on the battlefield with you, she says something very specific, she says [ la'allallaha an yarzuqani shahada,] I want Allah to grant me shahada, martyrdom.
The Ansar, the spirit of the Ansar wanted to be there with Rasulullahﷺ in his most difficult moments. Remember the story of the man that came to Rasulullahﷺ and said to Rasulullahﷺ as he was going out in the battle and Rasulullahﷺ asked him what are you here for, he said [li udra wibisah minha huna,] to be struck with an arrow right here, I'm going to be with you and I'm going to be struck with an arrow right here. And Rasulullahﷺ said [ustuq illaha yastuq,] be truthful with Allah and Allah will be truthful with you. So [Umaridu mardaakum] says to Rasulullahﷺ pretty explicitly, I want to be a martyr, I want to be out there and I want to be a martyr with you.
Rasulullahﷺ responds to her and says [qarri fee baytik fa inna allaha ta'ala yarzuquk shahada,[ stay in your home and trust me that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is going to bestow upon you shahada. Fa kana tu samma ash shahida,] Rasulullahﷺ told her that you are actually going to be a martyr, but not in the battlefield, but you will be a shahidah. So she actually had the nickname in the time of Rasulullahﷺ amongst Rasulullahﷺ and his companions as Ash Shahida, as the martyr. So imagine walking amongst the companions and everyone knows you're going to be martyred. How? Allahu Alam. But your nickname is Ash Shahida.
So she goes on and she kind of occupies this position as being the female teacher of the Quran, the greatest authority from the women of the Quran in Madinah, teaching the Quran, reciting the Quran. She's a hafizah of the Quran. There are students of the Quran going to her and reciting to her to be corrected. She also becomes famous for her Siyam and for her Qiyam, for her fasting, and for her prayer at night. So she used to pray at night and people would go by her home and they could hear her recitation at night. All of this is very significant for the reason of how she eventually will pass away. It will be a long time. So Umm Waraqah رضي الله عنه. goes on and she maintains the status in the time of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq رضي الله عنه. And she maintains the status in the time of Umar Ibn Al Khattab رضي الله عنه.
And her home is a wealthy home and her home is a home of ilm, where people go and study with her. And she aged significantly. So she became a very old woman in the time of Umar bin al-Khattab رضي الله عنه., which suggests that she was elderly when Islam came. So she's in her 60s or 70s in the time of Caliphate Umar bin al-Khattab رضي الله عنه.. And Umar Umar bin al-Khattab رضي الله عنه. would do his night patrols. Right? Umar bin al-Khattab رضي الله عنه., says in the morning one day, he says, He said, I didn't hear her qira'ah last night. SubhanAllah, that's how much you could depend upon walking by this woman's home and hearing her recitation of the Quran.
That I didn't hear the Qur'an of my aunt. And this was obviously an honorific title that he was giving to her last night. And the Prophet ﷺ used to visit her, al-Shaheedah, and people used to say, let's go visit al-Shaheedah Umaraka, let's go visit the martyr Umaraka. So Umar bin al-Khattab رضي الله عنه. went to check on her home. And essentially what had happened to Umaraka رضي الله عنه., this scholar of the Quran, this teacher of the Quran, is that because she was so wealthy, she had a male and female servant that plotted against her and basically martyred her and took all of her wealth.
So Saiyiduna Umar bin al-Khattab رضي الله عنه went to her home and found that she had been killed by two servants who basically stole all of the wealth. And subhanAllah, obviously as I said there are twists and turns in this. This is the hafizah of the female companions of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. And she was murdered in her home. SubhanAllah. And the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ told her she would be a shaheedah. And Umar bin al-Khattab رضي الله عنه., when he saw her in the state, he said, sadaqah Rasool Allah ﷺ [ahina kana yaqool, intaliqu bina nazoor al-shaheedah]. SubhanAllah. He said that Rasulullah ﷺ was truthful when he used to say, let's go visit the martyr.
Let's go visit a shahidah. So subhanAllah, she's known as the hafizah of the female companions of the Prophetﷺ. And also, the circumstances under which her martyrdom took place, and her shahadah took place was very unique. Umar bin al-Khattab رضي الله عنه. himself personally found the two that murdered her and they were executed for murdering her. So she had this reputation of being the martyred hafizah. Basically the shaheedah and hafidah amongst the companions رضي الله عنه.
The Prophet visited Umm Waraqah bint 'Abdullah b. Al-Harith Ansariahرضي الله عنه from time to time and asked her how she was. The Companions showed respect to her.
Umm Waraqah bint 'Abdullah b. Al-Harith Ansariahرضي الله عنه had a great deal of knowledge about religious issues. She tried to practice Islam in the best way. She helped her family with it.
She had a male and a female slave. She told her inheritors to free them after her death. The slaves wanted to be free at once. With the delusion of Satan, they martyred her to be set free.
This incident took place during the caliphate of Saiyiduna Umar Ibn Al Khattabرضي الله عنه. As soon as Saiyiduna Umar Ibn Al Khattabرضي الله عنه. heard about it, he said, "The Messenger of Allah told the truth." He understood that the martyrdom of Umm Waraqah took place as the Messenger of Allah had foreseen.
This incident distressed the Muslims a lot. Saiyiduna Umar Ibn Al Khattabرضي الله عنه. wanted the killers to be caught at once. They were caught and executed. The first people to be hanged in Madinah were those two slaves.
Saiyiduna Umar Ibn Al Khattabرضي الله عنه. said to his friends from time to time, “Let us go and visit the grave of that martyr.” Then, they would go and visit her grave.
May Allah be pleased with them! [1]
The Hadeeth of Umm Waraqah led her household in prayer.
Question ?
I happened to read that Prophet Mohammed appointed a lady Umme Waraqa as imam to a locality to lead Jamaat or congregational prayer where both men and women followers prayed. Is this incident reported through authentic sources? If this report is credible, it seems to me strange and surprising that though I attended hundreds of Islamic classes and read a lot of articles, not a single maulvi has ever mentioned this during the discussion about the rights and roles of Muslim women in Ummah. Is it part of the usual “male censorship” made by patriarchal religious scholars? When I asked about this, a moulvi told me that though it is a true narration, it is an exceptional case. But still, my surprise remains, because I could never heard citing this incident by Maulavis even as an isolated case till date. I would like to know more about the authenticity of the report because it will be a potential ideological tool to deconstruct the patriarchal reading of Islam? Expecting an in-depth and detailed reply.
Answer.
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
The Hadith which you mentioned in the question is the Hadeeth about Umm Waraqah 
in which the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa salam, ordered her to lead her household in prayer, as reported by Abu Daawod and others. A group of scholars classified this Hadeeth as deficient because among its narrators is ‘Abdur-Rahmaan ibn Khallaad Al-Ansaari, who is unknown, as well as his grandmother Layla bint Maalik, so (the chain of narration of) this Hadeeth has two unknown narrators in one single category. Even if we presume that the Hadeeth is Hasan (good) or Saheeh (sound) as classified by a group of scholars, then the Hadeeth does not mention that she used to lead men in prayer as you mentioned in the question, but it mentions “her household” and what is meant by this is women from her family; the evidence about this is the narration from Ad-Daaraqutni 
which reads: "She was authorized that the Athaan and the Iqaamah would be called for her, and then she would lead the women in her household.”
The majority of scholars 
are of the view that it is not valid for a woman to lead a man in prayer. Ibn Qudaamah said in Al-Mughni:
"As regards a woman, it is not valid for her under any circumstances to lead a man in prayer, whether in obligatory prayers or supererogatory prayers according to the view of all the jurists. Abu Thawr said: “A man who was led in prayer by a woman is not obliged to make up his prayer”…..but some of our (Hanbali) scholars said: “It is permissible for a woman to lead men in Taraaweeh prayer but she would be behind them, as it was narrated that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, appointed a Mu’aththin (a person who calls the Athaan) for Umm Waraqah bint ‘Abdullaah ibn Al-Haarith, and he, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, ordered her to lead her household in prayer,” [Abu Daawood]; and this (her household) is general for men and women. However, we have the evidence (against this) which is the saying of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam: “A woman is not to lead a man in prayer.” Also, a woman is not permitted to call the Athaan for men, so it is not permissible that she leads them in prayer, just like the case of the insane person (who is not eligibe to call Athaan for men nor to lead them in prayer). Indeed, the Hadeeth of Umm Waraqah indicates that she was permitted to lead the women of her household, as reported by Ad- Daaraqutni, and this is an addition that must be accepted...” [End of quote]
For more benefit on a woman leading a man in prayer, please refer to Fatwa 89729. Also, the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “A people who appoint a woman as their leader will never succeed.” [Al-Bukhari] For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 96432.
Even if we presume that the Hadeeth of Umm Waraqah proves that she used to lead men in prayer, then saying that this is an exceptional case is also a strong statement as this was not spread amongst the Companions . It is for this reason that Ibn Qudaamah said in Al-Mughni: “If we presume that this is confirmed about Umm Waraqah, then this is specific to her; the evidence about this is that calling the Athaan and the Iqaamah are not legislated for women, so leading the prayer is specific to her, as the Athaan and Iqaamah were specifically called for her (i.e. she was authorized by the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, that the Athaan and the Iqaamah would be called for her.” [End of quote]
Therefore, there is no need for you to be surprised and there is no “male censorship” or “patriarchal reading of Islam” because the Muslim scholars and jurists throughout the centuries did not have a reading of Islam that was dominated by desire or the love to have control and dominance over women; rather, they were great scholars who used to say only that which is confirmed and proven in the Quran and the Sunnah and they did not fear the blame of the blamers when speaking about Allaah. This issue was written in their books and they wrote every detail that was mentioned in the Sunnah of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, about it and they did not hide anything while doing so, and then they clarified the objective of the Sharee'ah by combining various texts that are mentioned about the issue. This is indeed the methodology of the people of guidance and rationality. It is an obligation to avoid degrading the scholars belittling them or thinking bad of them.
Allaah Knows best.
Referensi:
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[1] Usdu’l-Ghaba, 5: 626.
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