Answered by Ustadh Abdullah Anik Misra
Question: Was Mariya al-Qibtiyya one of the Prophet’s wives?
Answer: In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate,
As salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,
Thank you for your question.
Mariya al-Qibtiyya was not one of the wives of the beloved Prophet [may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him]. She was a bondswoman who was gifted to him by Muqauqis the Copt, ruler of Egypt at the time. She bore him a son, Ibrahim [may Allah be pleased with them] who passed away in childhood, and was later a free woman.
She enjoyed a special status however, in that she followed the same laws of modesty and hijab as the Mothers of the Believers [wives] did, she later observed the same etiquette and lifestyle as a widow, and was treated in a similarly generous way by the caliphs Abu Bakr and Omar [Allah be pleased with them]. [al-Solihi, Subul al-Huda wa al-Rashad; al-Tabari, al-Samt al-Thameen; Ibn Hajr, al-Isaba]
Wasalam,
Abdullah Anik Misra
Checked & Approved by Faraz Rabbani