His words “taqum” are read with a fatḥah on the tāʼ and a ḍammah on the qāf; it means “she would sweep.” “Al-qamāmah” (sweepings) is the litter that is removed. “Ādhantumūnī,” with a lengthened hamzah, means “you informed me.”

Explanation
The author—may Allah have mercy on him—relates from Abū Hurayrah, Allah be pleased with him, that a black woman—or, in another wording, a young man, though most reports mention a black woman, meaning she was not an Arab—used to sweep the mosque, cleaning it and removing refuse. She died during the night. The Companions, Allah be pleased with them, thought her matter too minor to trouble the Prophet ﷺ at that hour, so they took her out and buried her. When the Prophet ﷺ later noticed her absence they told him, “She has died.” He replied, “Why did you not inform me?”—that is, why did you not let me know at the time of her death? He then said, “Show me her grave.” They directed him to it, and he offered the funeral prayer over her. After that he said, “These graves are filled with darkness for those within them, but Allah illumines them for them by means of my prayer over them.”

This ḥadīth yields several lessons:
• The Prophet ﷺ honored people according to their deeds and the acts of obedience and worship they performed for Allah.
• It is permissible for a woman to undertake the cleaning of a mosque; the task is not confined to men. Whoever volunteers to maintain a mosque and keep it clean will be rewarded, whether the woman does the work herself or hires someone at her own expense.
• Another benefit is the recommendation to purify the mosques and remove any refuse from them, for the Prophet ﷺ said, “The rewards of my community were presented to me—even for the speck of dust a person takes out of…”