One day—on one of God’s timeless days—the first ray of the Muhammadan light of guidance reached Yathrib, borne by the Makkan envoy and caller to Islam, Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr (1). Umm Sulaym’s heart opened to that light as the blossoms of a meadow open to the first breath of dawn, and before long she declared her Islam when the Muslims in Madinah could still be counted on the fingers of one hand.

The loyal wife then invited her cherished husband to drink with her from that pure, refreshing, divine spring, so that he might share the bliss of faith that had come to her…

But Mālik ibn al-Naḍr felt no ease with the new religion, nor did his heart expand to it. Instead, he urged his wife to leave Islam and return to the creed of their forefathers. Husband and wife each clung to their stance, for al-Ghumaysāʾ abhorred the idea of returning to unbelief after faith just as a person would loathe being cast into the Fire