View source for Na'ila bint al-Furafisa

{{short description|Wife of Uthman ibn Affan and a Tabi‘un}}
{{redirect|Na'ila|the name|Naila (name)}}
{{Infobox religious biography
| name               = Na'ila bint al-Furafisa
| native_name        = {{lang|ar|نائلة بنت الفرافصة}}
| image              = 
| birth_date         = 
| birth_place        = Kufa, Iraq
| death_date         = 
| death_place        = [[Medina]], [[Umayyad Caliphate]]
| resting_place      = 
| known_for          = 
| children           = * Anbasa ibn Uthman
* Maryam al-Sughra bint Uthman
* Umm Aban al-Sughra bint Uthman
* Umm Khalid bint Uthman
* Arwa bint Uthman
* Umm al-Banin bint Uthman
| mother             = 
| father             = al-Furafisa al-Kalbi
| spouse             = [[Uthman]]
| relatives          = [[Amr ibn Uthman|Amr]] (step-son)<br> [[Aban ibn Uthman|Aban]] (step-son)<br> [[Sa'id ibn Uthman|Sa'id]] (step-son)
| relations          = [[Family tree of Uthman|Family of Uthman]] (by marriage)
| religion           = [[Islam]]
}}
'''Na'ila bint al-Furafisa''' ({{langx|ar|نائلة بنت الفرافصة|translit=Nāʾila bint al-Furāfiṣa}}) was the wife of the third [[caliph]] [[Uthman ibn Affan|Uthman]] ({{Reign|644|656}}). She narrated many [[hadith]] including [[Eyewitness memory|eyewitness]] accounts of the [[assassination of Uthman]].

==Biography==
Naila bint al-Furafisa was born into a [[Christians|Christian]] family in [[Kufa]] but was converted to [[Islam]] by [[Aisha]]. In 28 AH (649 CE), she married Uthman, She gave birth to several children of Uthman; Anbasa, Maryam al-Sughra, Umm Aban al-Sughra, Umm Khalid, Arwa, Umm al-Banin.

After the death of second caliph [[Umar]], her husband [[Election of Uthman|Uthman was elected]] to the Caliphate and succeeded to the Caliphate in 644. Naila always supported her husband in household duties.

Her husband ruled the Caliphate for twelve years, his reign was peaceful and prosperous however in the last year of his reign 656, after growing discontent with his rule, rebels besieged Uthman in his home in [[Medina]]. [[Ali|Ali ibn Abi Talib]] had earlier rescued Uthman from similar situation on his promise to address complaints made by public. The Caliph, now about 80 years old, sent away any help for fear of blood being shed in his name. After 49 days, the rebels broke in with the intention of killing Uthman. Naila attempted to save her husband, but in raising her left hand to stop a sword falling on him, had her fingers cut off. Uthman was martyred as he read the [[Qur'an]], supposedly while reading the verse (2:137) "And Allah will suffice you for defense against them. He is the Hearer, the Knower."<ref name="Cook2007">{{cite book|author=David Cook|title=Martyrdom in Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pszLCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA49|date=15 January 2007|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-316-58308-1|page=49}}</ref>

After the body of Uthman had been in the house for three days, Naila approached some of his supporters to assist in his burial, but only about a dozen people responded, including Marwan, [[Zayd ibn Thabit]], 'Huwatib bin Alfarah, [[Jubayr ibn Mut'im]], Abu Jahm bin Hudaifa, Hakim bin Hazam and Niyar bin Mukarram.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.islamicgoodsdirect.co.uk/product_info.php/products_id/1427|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928200549/http://www.islamicgoodsdirect.co.uk/product_info.php/products_id/1427|url-status=dead|title=Hazrat Usman|archive-date=28 September 2007}}</ref> The body was lifted at dusk, and because of the blockade, no shroud could be procured. The body was not washed. Thus, Uthman was carried to his grave in the clothes that he was wearing at the time of his assassination.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.writerinislam.blogspot.com/2005/11/uthman-ibn-affan-man-with-two-lights.html|title='Uthman ibn 'Affan : The Man With Two Lights (Part Two)|first=Amatullah|last=A|date=29 November 2005|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071109144132/http://www.writerinislam.blogspot.com/2005/11/uthman-ibn-affan-man-with-two-lights.html|archive-date=9 November 2007}}</ref> Again, because of the blockade and the tense situation caused by the rebels, his body was not even buried in the graveyard but behind the graveyard. That is why today when we visit his grave, we will find it very far away from the graves of the other Companions. 

Naila followed the funeral with a lamp, but, in order to maintain secrecy, the lamp had to be extinguished. Naila was accompanied by some women, including Uthman's daughter.<ref name="Tabari15">Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari. ''Tarikh al-Rasul wa'l-Muluk''. Translated by Humphreys, R. S. (1990). ''Volume 15: The Crisis of the Early Caliphate''. Albany: State University of New York Press.</ref>{{rp|247,248}}

The funeral prayers were led by ''Jabir bin Muta'am'', and the dead body was lowered into the grave with little ceremony. After burial, Naila and [[Aisha]] wanted to speak, but were discouraged from doing so due to possible danger from the rioters.<ref name="Tabari15" />{{rp|247}}<ref>''The Encyclopaedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged'' by Peter N. Stearns, William Leonard Langer</ref>

Later, after Uthman's death, she remained a widow and did not marry again. [[Mu'awiya]] asked her to marry him twice (it was common for Arabs to marry widows). For the first time she refused verbally and on the second, in reply to his letter she sent along two front teeth of hers which she had broken deliberately signaling that she was no longer beautiful and Muawiya should not ask of her again.<ref>{{cite book|last=Guthrie|first=Shirley|title=Arab Women in the Middle Ages: Private Lives and Public Roles|date=2013|publisher=Saqi|isbn=9780863567643|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YD0hBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT90|page=90|accessdate=24 September 2017|language=en}}</ref>

==Family== 
The children of Uthman and Na'ila were; Maryam al-Sughra who married to Amr ibn al-Walid ibn Uqba and then married to [[Sa'id ibn al-As]] after the death of her half-sister Umm 'Amr bint Uthman, they had a son named Sa'id. Umm Khalid bint Uthman married [[Abdallah ibn Khalid ibn Asid]] after the death of her sister Umm Sa'id bint Uthman (Umm Uthman). Arwa bint Uthman married Khalid ibn al-Walid ibn Uqba.

==References==
{{Reflist}}
 
{{DEFAULTSORT:Na'ila bint al-Furafisa}}
[[Category:Uthman]]
[[Category:Banu Kalb]]
[[Category:Tabi‘un hadith narrators]]
[[Category:7th-century Muslims]]
[[Category:7th-century women]]
[[Category:7th-century Arab people]]
[[Category:Converts to Islam from Christianity]]
[[Category:People from Khorasan]]