Umm Qirfa

Umm Qirfa Fatima was a leader of the Banu Fazara Arab tribe from Wadi al-Qura.

Ancient genealogies described Umm Qirfa as a member of the Banu Fazara. She married into the Banu Badr. According to Ibn Ishaq and al-Tabari, Umm Qirfa was wealthy.

She was described as being an old woman with high social status and wife of Malik ibn Hudhayfa ibn Badr al-Fazari.

After her thirty horsemen were defeated by Zayd ibn Haritha, he had Umm Qirfa, or her children, slaughtered "by putting a rope into her two legs and to two camels and driving them until they rent her in two...".

"Allah’s Messenger sent Zayd to Wadi Qura, where he encountered the Banu Fazarah. Some of his Companions were killed, and Zayd was carried away wounded. Ward was slain by the Banu Badr. When Zayd returned, he vowed that no washing should touch his head until he had raided the Fazarah. After he recovered, Muhammad sent him with an army against the Fazarah settlement. He met them in Qura and inflicted casualties on them and took Umm Qirfah prisoner. He also took Abdallah bin Mas’adah prisoner. Ziyad bin Harithah ordered Qays to kill Umm Qirfah, and he killed her cruelly. He tied each of her legs with a rope and tied the ropes to two camels, and they split her in two."

- Al-Tabari, Michael Fishbein - The History of al-Tabari, 8 (The Victory of Islam), SUNYP, pp. 95-97, 1997