Maria al-Qibtiyya

, better known as or , or Maria the Copt, died 637, was a Coptic Egyptian woman who, according to Ibn Ishaq, was given as a slave to the Islamic prophet Muhammad as a gift in 628 by Al-Muqawqis, a Christian governor of Alexandria, during the territory's Sasanian occupation. It is a subject of speculation whether she married Muhammad or continued to be a concubine. She spent the rest of her life in Medina, and had a son, Ibrahim, with Muhammad. The son died in his infancy, aged 2, and she died almost five years later. Recent scholarship tends to suggest that Maria the Copt did not exist but was rather a foundational myth for Islam.

Al-Maqrizi says that she was a native of Hebenu a village located near Antinoöpolis.

Biography

In the Islamic year 6 AH (627–628 CE), Muhammad is said to have had letters written to the great rulers of the Middle East, proclaiming the continuation of the monotheistic faith with its final messages and inviting the rulers to join. The purported texts of some of the letters are found in Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari's History of the Prophets and Kings. Tabari writes that a deputation was sent to an Egyptian governor named as al-Muqawqis. Maria was a slave who was offered as a gift of goodwill to Muhammad in reply to his envoys inviting the governor of Alexandria to Islam.

Tabari recounts the story of Maria's arrival from Egypt:

The death of Ibrahim caused Muhammad to weep.

Status as a wife or concubine Like Rayhana bint Zayd, there is some debate between historians and scholars as to whether Mariyah ever became Muhammad's wife or remained a concubine.

Muhammad's earliest biographers, Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, and al-Tabari mentioned Mariyah as Muhammad's wife in their sirah. Ibn Kathir also states in his sirah that Muhammad married Mariyah:

According to Sahih Al-Mustadrak ala al-Sahihayn:

Some Islamic scholars point to a different for the passage reproduced above, saying it was only caused by Muhammad drinking honey, as narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari by Muhammad's wife Aisha:

An indication that she was a concubine is that when she bore her son to Muhammad, she was set free.

There is also strong evidence that there was no living quarter for her in the proximity of the Prophet's Mosque. Only the wives of Muhammad had their quarters adjacent to one another in the proximity of his mosque at Medina. Maria was made to reside permanently in an orchard, some three kilometers from the mosque.

The 'female-slave' referred to in this narration was Maria the Copt, as specified in a hadith attributed to Umar and classified as by Ibn Kathir, which names her .

In a report from Ibn 'Abbas and 'Urwah b. al-Zubair concerning the same incident, Muhammad said to Hafsa:

Al-Tabari lists Maria as both one of Muhammad's wives and his slave:

though perhaps using "wife" in the sense of one whom Muhammad had relations with and who mothered his child:

One hadith attributed to Mus'ab b. 'Abdullah al-Zubairi states that the two were married, though another rendering of the hadith by Mus'ab's nephew Zubair b. al-Bakkar makes no mention of marriage.

Abu ‘Ubaydah said about Muhammad:

Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya is another scholar and biographer of Muhammad who writes a sirah called Zad al-Ma'ad where he mentioned Mariyah as a slave girl.

Historicity Recent scholarship tends to suggest that Maria the Copt did not exist but was rather a foundational myth for Islam, though some have attempted to argue Maria was a concubine or wife of Muhammad. Kaj Öhrnberg of the University of Helsinki concludes against the historicity of Mariya al-qibṭiyya. Christian Cannuyer of Lille Catholic University is similarly critical of Maria's existence.