Māriyya bint Shamʿūn Mother of the Believers | |
---|---|
ماریة بنت شمعون | |
Born | Hebenu, Antinoöpolis, Egypt |
Died | 637 |
Other names | Māriyyah al-Qibṭiyyah or Maria the Copt |
Children | Ibrahim ibn Muhammad |
Māriyya bint Shamʿūn (Arabic: ماریة بنت شمعون), better known as Māriyyah al-Qibṭiyyah or al-Qubṭiyya (Arabic: مارية القبطية), or Maria the Copt, died 637, was an Egyptian woman who, along with her sister Sirin bint Shamun, was given to the Islamic prophet Muhammad in 628 by Al-Muqawqis, a Christian governor of Alexandria, during the territory's Sasanian occupation as slaves. She spent the rest of her life in Medina and had a son, Ibrahim with Muhammad. The son died as an infant and she died almost five years later.[1]
Al-Maqrizi says that she was a native of Hebenu (Coptic: ⲡⲙⲁⲛϩⲁⲃⲓⲛ, Koinē Greek: Ἀλάβαστρων πόλις Alábastrōn pólis, Arabic: الحفن, romanized: al-Khafn), a village located near Antinoöpolis.[2]