Juwayriya bint al-Harith was a Companion, the daughter of al-Harith ibn Abī Dirār, chief of Banū al-Muṣṭaliq, and one of the wives of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Earlier known as Barra, she was among the captives after the campaign against Banū al-Muṣṭaliq and entered a contract to purchase her freedom. A report in Sunan Abī Dāwūd preserves her request for help, the Prophet’s offer to pay the contract and marry her, and the subsequent freeing of many members of her tribe when the Muslims regarded them as relatives by marriage of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Her biography therefore became strongly associated with manumission and reconciliation after conflict. Canonical hadith also preserves her devotional practice: Sahih Muslim records the well-known morning remembrance taught to her after she remained in worship from dawn into the forenoon, while Sahih al-Bukhari preserves a ruling concerning fasting Friday by itself. Her earlier name Barra was changed to Juwayriya, a practice explicitly preserved in Sahih Muslim. The date of her death is reported differently: 56 AH / 676 CE is the preferred chronology in the TDV specialist entry, while 50 AH / 670 CE is retained in some sources as an alternative.
607 — ?
Names and variants
Juwayriya bint al-Harith· canonicalJuwayriya bint al-Harith· canonicalجويرية بنت الحارث· canonicalBarra bint al-Harith· birth nameبرة بنت الحارث· birth nameJuwayriya bint al-Harith ibn Abi Dirar· variantجويرية بنت الحارث بن أبي ضرار· variantJuwayriya al-Mustaliqiyya· variantجويرية المصطلقية· variantal-Mustaliqiyya· nisbaالمصطلقية· nisbaal-Khuzaʿiyya· nisbaالخزاعية· nisbaUmm al-Muʾminīn· laqabأم المؤمنين· laqabCüveyriye bint Hâris· transliteration
Juwayriya bint al-Harith
Juwayriya bint al-Harith was a Companion, a wife of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and the daughter of the leader of Banū al-Muṣṭaliq. Her biography links the aftermath of conflict with manumission, tribal reconciliation and a small but enduring hadith legacy.
Her canonical name is Juwayriya bint al-Harith. Classical sources also preserve fuller lineage forms linking her to al-Harith ibn Abī Dirār and the Muṣṭaliq branch of Khuzaʿa.
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ changed her name from Barra to Juwayriya. The report explains that he disliked a name that could be heard as self-praise or personal purification.
Biographical sources identify Banū al-Muṣṭaliq within Khuzaʿa. This broader affiliation helps place Juwayriya’s family in the tribal map of western Arabia.
Her father, al-Harith ibn Abī Dirār, is remembered as a leader of Banū al-Muṣṭaliq. This status explains why her captivity carried wider tribal significance.
Before marrying Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, Juwayriya had been married within her tribe. Classical reports differ over the exact name-form of her first husband, so the identity should be handled cautiously.
The marriage occurred in the aftermath of military conflict between the Muslim community and Banū al-Muṣṭaliq. The secure historical point is the campaign and capture, not every later reconstruction of motives.
Sources differ over whether the campaign should be dated to 5 or 6 AH. The biography therefore keeps the chronology explicit without forcing a single year where the tradition varies.
Canonical reports place Juwayriya among the captives taken after the campaign. This event forms the immediate background to her manumission contract and later marriage.
Sunan Abī Dāwūd reports that Juwayriya fell to the share of Thābit ibn Qays ibn Shammās, or to a close relative of his.
Sources: [1] Biographical treatment, [2] Biographical treatment, [3] Biographical treatment, [4] Biographical treatment, [5] Biographical treatment, [6] Biographical treatment, [7] Biographical treatment, [8] Biographical treatment, [9] Biographical treatment, [17] Allocated to Thābit ibn Qays or his cousin
A contract to purchase freedom
Juwayriya entered into a mukātaba agreement to purchase her freedom. This legal arrangement became the direct setting for her approach to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
Sunan Abī Dāwūd 3931 preserves the fullest canonical account of the contract, her request, the marriage offer and the subsequent release of captives from her tribe.
Juwayriya accepted the proposal and became a wife of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. The marriage transformed her status from captive under contract to Mother of the Believers.
A separate biographical route says that her father came to ransom her and that the marriage followed after her release. This variant is preserved alongside the better-known manumission-contract account.
The sources agree on the marriage but preserve more than one account of the immediate mechanism leading to it. The biography keeps those routes distinct rather than merging them into a single narrative.
Biographical tradition and hadith portray Juwayriya as devoted to worship. The strongest evidence is the canonical morning-remembrance report in Sahih Muslim.
Sahih Muslim reports that Prophet Muhammad ﷺ left Juwayriya after dawn prayer while she remained in her place of worship and later found her still engaged in remembrance.
Sources: [1] Biographical treatment, [2] Biographical treatment, [3] Biographical treatment, [4] Biographical treatment, [5] Biographical treatment, [6] Biographical treatment, [7] Biographical treatment, [8] Biographical treatment, [9] Biographical treatment, [14] Remained in worship after dawn, [15] Parallel Muslim route
Sahih Muslim 2726
In the same report, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ taught her four phrases to recite three times, saying they outweighed what she had recited during the morning.
Bukhari reports that Prophet Muhammad ﷺ found Juwayriya fasting on a Friday and asked whether she had fasted the day before or intended to fast the day after.
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ explained that although the food had originally been charity to the servant, it had reached its destination and could then be eaten by him.
Juwayriya directly transmitted reports from Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Her surviving corpus is small but spans worship, fasting and household legal questions.
Sources: [1] Biographical treatment, [2] Biographical treatment, [3] Biographical treatment, [4] Biographical treatment, [5] Biographical treatment, [6] Biographical treatment, [7] Biographical treatment, [8] Biographical treatment, [9] Biographical treatment, [10] Direct narration from Juwayriya, [14] Direct narration from Juwayriya
Reported hadith count
The TDV specialist biography reports that seven hadiths are transmitted from Juwayriya, with material appearing in Bukhari and Muslim.
Later biographical memory presents the marriage as easing hostility and creating a new kinship relationship between Banū al-Muṣṭaliq and the Muslim community.
A biography of freedom, worship and reconciliation
Juwayriya bint al-Harith is remembered through three especially well-attested themes: her transition from captivity to marriage, the release of members of her tribe, and canonical reports preserving her worship and legal practice.
Biographical sources report that Juwayriya had been married within her tribe before the Banū al-Muṣṭaliq campaign, but the exact name-form of her first husband varies in the tradition.
The Abu Dawud account states that Muslims freed one hundred households of Banū al-Muṣṭaliq after the marriage because they had become relatives by marriage of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ taught Juwayriya four phrases of remembrance to repeat three times and said they outweighed what she had recited during the morning.
Sahih al-Bukhari records Prophet Muhammad ﷺ instructing Juwayriya to break an isolated Friday fast when she had not fasted Thursday and did not intend to fast Saturday.
Sahih Muslim records Prophet Muhammad ﷺ explaining in Juwayriya’s household that food first received as charity by her freed servant could be eaten after the charity had reached its intended recipient.
A marriage remembered for large-scale manumission and reconciliation
Sunan Abī Dāwūd preserves the account that Juwayriya’s marriage to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was followed by the freeing of one hundred households from Banū al-Muṣṭaliq when Muslims regarded them as relatives by marriage of the Prophet.
social · established
A lasting morning-remembrance formula
Sahih Muslim preserves the remembrance taught to Juwayriya after she remained in worship from dawn into the forenoon. The four phrases became one of the most widely transmitted devotional reports associated with her.
religious · established
A canonical precedent on fasting Friday by itself
Sahih al-Bukhari records Prophet Muhammad ﷺ instructing Juwayriya to break a Friday fast when it was not joined to fasting on Thursday or Saturday. The report became evidence in later legal discussions of voluntary fasting.
religious · established
A household precedent on charity after transfer of ownership
Sahih Muslim preserves a report from Juwayriya’s household in which food originally given as charity to her freed servant could be eaten by Prophet Muhammad ﷺ after the charity had reached its intended recipient.
religious · established
A small but durable hadith transmission legacy
Specialist biography reports seven hadiths from Juwayriya. Her surviving canonical material covers remembrance, voluntary fasting, household charity and the aftermath of the Banū al-Muṣṭaliq campaign.
scholarly · reported
Sources
[1]
Tārīkh al-rusul wa-l-mulūk
Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī · Classical historical source
[2]
Tārīkh al-rusul wa-l-mulūk
al-Ṭabarī · Classical history
[3]
Siyar aʿlām al-nubalāʾ
al-Dhahabī · Classical biographical source
[4]
Al-Iṣāba fī tamyīz al-ṣaḥāba
Ibn Hajar al-ʿAsqalānī · Classical companion biographical source
[5]
Usd al-ghāba fī maʿrifat al-ṣaḥāba
Ibn al-Athir · Classical companion biographical source