Asma bint Abi Bakr was an early Companion, daughter of Abu Bakr, paternal half-sister of ʿAʾisha, wife of al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwam and mother of ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Zubayr. Born in Mecca around 595 CE, she was among the early Muslims. She played a direct role in the Hijra preparations by preparing provisions for Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and Abu Bakr and cutting her waist belt into two to tie the food container and water skin, giving rise to the famous epithet Dhāt al-Niṭāqayn. She later migrated while pregnant and gave birth to ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Zubayr at Quba. Canonical reports preserve her hard domestic labor in Medina, her generosity, her maintenance of ties with her non-Muslim mother, and many rulings she transmitted concerning purity, fasting, pilgrimage and food. She lived to an advanced age and remained a major source of Prophetic memory. She died in Mecca in 73 AH / 692 CE, only days after the killing of her son ʿAbd Allah.
595 — 692
Names and variants
Asma bint Abi Bakr· canonicalAsma bint Abi Bakr· canonicalأسماء بنت أبي بكر· canonicalAsma bint Abi Bakr al-Siddiq· variantأسماء بنت أبي بكر الصديق· variantAsma bint Abi Bakr ibn Abi Quhafa· variantأسماء بنت أبي بكر بن أبي قحافة· variantDhat al-Nitaqayn· laqabذات النطاقين· laqabal-Qurashiyya· nisbaal-Taymiyya· nisbaالقرشية التيمية· nisbaUmm Abd Allah· kunyaأم عبد الله· kunyaEsmâ bint Ebû Bekir· transliterationAsmaa bint Abu Bakr· transliteration
Asma bint Abi Bakr
Asma bint Abi Bakr was an early Companion, daughter of Abu Bakr, wife of al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwam and mother of ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Zubayr. Her life spans the Meccan beginnings of Islam, the Hijra, the Medinan community and the political upheavals of the late first Islamic century.
Her canonical name is Asma bint Abi Bakr. Classical sources preserve fuller Qurashi and Taymi lineage forms, while later memory most strongly associates her with the epithet Dhāt al-Niṭāqayn.
The epithet Dhāt al-Niṭāqayn, commonly rendered “the woman of the two waist belts,” comes from her role in preparing provisions for the Hijra and cutting her belt into two pieces to tie the containers.
Her mother was Qutayla bint ʿAbd al-ʿUzza. Biographical tradition differs on the details of her later religious status, so her visit to Asma is best anchored in the canonical report that she came while still outside Islam.
The TDV specialist biography dates Asma’s birth to 595 CE, twenty-seven years before the Hijra. The year is retained as probable rather than absolutely certain.
Sahih al-Bukhari preserves that Asma and ʿAʾisha were present in Abu Bakr’s house when Prophet Muhammad ﷺ announced that permission for the migration had been granted and that Abu Bakr would accompany him.
Biographical traditions also connect Asma with carrying food during the period when Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and Abu Bakr were concealed near Mecca before beginning the journey north.
Sira and historical sources report that Abu Jahl struck Asma when she refused to reveal where Abu Bakr had gone. This episode is retained as a classical historical report rather than a canonical hadith claim.
During one such journey, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ offered her a place on his mount. She declined out of shyness and concern for al-Zubayr’s sense of jealousy.
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ instructed Asma to maintain good relations with her mother. The report became a major example of preserving family ties with a non-Muslim parent.
Later exegetical and biographical tradition links this episode with Qurʾān 60:8 on kindness and justice toward those who do not fight Muslims because of religion. The link is presented as an attribution rather than as an uncontested cause of revelation.
She reported that the Muslims once broke their Ramadan fast on a cloudy day during the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and the sun then reappeared. Later narrators differed over whether makeup was required.
Sources: [3] Biographical treatment, [4] Biographical treatment, [5] Biographical treatment, [6] Biographical treatment, [7] Biographical treatment, [8] Biographical treatment, [9] Biographical treatment, [10] Biographical treatment, [11] Biographical treatment, [37] Parallel Abu Dawud report, [42] Fast broken on cloudy day before sunset
Eating horse meat
Asma transmitted that they slaughtered and ate a horse during the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
Asma transmitted details of pilgrimage practice, including leaving ihram after ʿumra for those without a sacrificial animal and later resuming ihram for Hajj.
Al-Nasaʾi preserves a later report in which Asma defended leaving for Mina at the end of the night as a practice associated with one better than her companion.
Sources: [3] Biographical treatment, [4] Biographical treatment, [5] Biographical treatment, [6] Biographical treatment, [7] Biographical treatment, [8] Biographical treatment, [9] Biographical treatment, [10] Biographical treatment, [11] Biographical treatment, [39] Departure to Mina at end of night
False hair and adornment
Sahih Muslim preserves Asma transmitting the prohibition on attaching false hair for a woman whose hair had fallen out.
Her long life and close family proximity to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ made Asma an important transmitter of reports covering migration, worship, family law, charity, food and daily life.
Sources: [3] Biographical treatment, [4] Biographical treatment, [5] Biographical treatment, [6] Biographical treatment, [7] Biographical treatment, [8] Biographical treatment, [9] Biographical treatment, [10] Biographical treatment, [11] Biographical treatment, [14] Direct charity narration, [20] Direct family narration, [24] Direct purity narration, [26] Direct worship narration
Reported hadith totals
Al-Dhahabi is reported to have counted fifty-eight narrations from Asma, including material shared by Bukhari and Muslim, while other compilations preserve larger totals because of repetition and multiple routes.
Some classical sources report that Asma accompanied al-Zubayr to the Battle of Yarmuk. This remains a reported biographical detail rather than a canonical anchor.
Biographical sources report that the marriage with al-Zubayr eventually ended in separation, probably in the late 20s AH. The chronology is reconstructed from the ages of their children and al-Zubayr’s later death.
Historical and biographical sources preserve a famous exchange in which the elderly Asma advised her son to act according to what he genuinely believed was right rather than surrender merely to preserve his life.
In that confrontation, Sahih Muslim preserves Asma citing a Prophetic report that Thaqif would produce a liar and a destructive man, applying the latter description to al-Hajjaj.
Asma lived to around a century according to the biographical chronology. Later reports describe severe age-related loss of sight while preserving her mental clarity.
Asma bint Abi Bakr linked the first days of Islam with the end of the first Islamic century. Her legacy combines practical service during the Hijra, household endurance, generosity, family loyalty and a wide body of transmitted Prophetic practice.
Asma bint Abi Bakr was the daughter of Abu Bakr, paternal half-sister of ʿAʾisha, wife of al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwam and mother of ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Zubayr.
The specialist chronology places Asma’s birth in 595 CE, twenty-seven years before the Hijra; the year is retained as probable rather than absolutely certain.
Canonical reports explain the epithet Dhāt al-Niṭāqayn by Asma cutting her waist belt into two pieces to tie the food container and water skin for the Hijra.
Canonical reports preserve Asma describing extensive household labor, including caring for al-Zubayr’s horse, drawing water and carrying date stones on her head.
Sahih al-Bukhari records Prophet Muhammad ﷺ instructing Asma to maintain good relations with her mother when the latter visited while still outside Islam.
Asma reported that the Muslims broke the Ramadan fast on a cloudy day and the sun then reappeared; later transmitters differed over whether the day had to be made up.
Sources: [3] Biographical treatment, [4] Biographical treatment, [5] Biographical treatment, [6] Biographical treatment, [7] Biographical treatment, [8] Biographical treatment, [9] Biographical treatment, [10] Biographical treatment, [11] Biographical treatment, [37] Parallel report and makeup discussion, [42] Fast broken then sun reappeared
established
Canonical reports preserve Asma transmitting pilgrimage practice concerning leaving ihram after ʿumra for those without a sacrificial animal and later resuming ihram for Hajj.
Some classical biographical sources report that Asma accompanied al-Zubayr to the Battle of Yarmuk; the report is not treated as a canonical certainty.
Biographical sources report that Asma and al-Zubayr separated, probably in the late 20s AH; the exact chronology is reconstructed rather than directly dated.
Asma’s preparation of the journey provisions and the cutting of her belt into two are preserved in Sahih al-Bukhari, making her a directly documented participant in the practical preparations for the Hijra.
social · established
A canonical precedent for kinship across religious difference
When Asma asked about her non-Muslim mother, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ instructed her to maintain good relations with her. The report became an enduring reference for duties toward a parent despite religious difference.
religious · established
A durable model of generosity
Canonical reports preserve Prophet Muhammad ﷺ telling Asma not to hoard, while biographical tradition remembers her as someone who distributed what came to her quickly.
social · established
A female source for practical law and worship
Asma transmitted canonical material on menstrual blood and prayer garments, eclipse prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, food and adornment, preserving practical rulings from everyday life.
scholarly · established
A century-spanning hadith legacy
Her long life allowed reports from the Meccan beginnings and the Prophetic household to reach children, descendants and later transmitters. Specialist biography records substantial hadith totals across major collections.
scholarly · reported
Sources
[1]
Sahih al-Bukhari 2138
Sunnah.com
[2]
Sahih al-Bukhari 2979
Sunnah.com
[3]
Tārīkh al-rusul wa-l-mulūk
Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī · Classical historical source
[4]
Tārīkh al-rusul wa-l-mulūk
al-Ṭabarī · Classical history
[5]
Siyar aʿlām al-nubalāʾ
al-Dhahabī · Classical biographical source
[6]
Al-Iṣāba fī tamyīz al-ṣaḥāba
Ibn Hajar al-ʿAsqalānī · Classical companion biographical source
[7]
al-Istīʿāb fī maʿrifat al-aṣḥāb
Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr · Classical biographical source
[8]
al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā
Ibn Saʿd · Classical biographical source
[9]
al-Sīra al-nabawiyya
Ibn Hishām · Classical sīra source
[10]
Tārīkh Dimashq
Ibn ʿAsākir · Classical historical-biographical source