'Asma' Bint Marwan

'Asma' Bint Marwan

ʻAṣmāʼ bint Marwān (Arabic: عصماء بنت مروان‎ "'Asmā' the daughter of Marwān") was a female member of the Ummayad clan who lived in Medina in 7th century Arabia.

The story of her death by command of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, after she opposed him with poetry and provoked other pagans to commit violence against him, can be found in the sīra material collected by Ibn Ishaq and Ibn Sa'd. Bint Marwan also ridiculed the people of Medina for obeying a chief not of their kin. Ibn Ishaq mentions that she displayed disaffection after the Medinian Abu Afak was killed for inciting rebellion against Muhammad.

Some classical and post-classical hadith scholars such as Al-Albani, Majdi, and Al-Jawzi have rejected the story, with some declaring it as fabrication, pointing out in their arguments that the chains of transmission by which the story was transmitted are all weak.

Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad and Ellison Banks Findly point out the importance of poets at the time and suggest that Muhammad ordered the execution of poets such as bint Marwan and Abu Afak because he was concerned about their influence.

Read more about 'Asma' Bint Marwan:  Contemporary Assessments