Her exact date and place of birth are unknown. The sources identify her as a daughter of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb and Lubaba bint Abi al-As, but preserve no independent birth report.
Maymuna bint Abi Sufyan ibn Harb al-Umawiyya
PER-000199
Family member
Confirmed
Burial place unknown
Supported across source traditions
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Maymuna bint Abi Sufyan ibn Harb was an Umayyad Qurashi woman whose identity is securely preserved in early genealogical and biographical sources. Ibn Sa'd identifies her mother as Lubaba bint Abi al-As. The sources disagree, however, over her Thaqafi marriage line: Ibn Sa'd and Ibn Habib connect her with Urwa ibn Masud and later al-Mughira ibn Shuba, while Musab al-Zubayri and Ibn Hajar connect her with Abu Murra ibn Urwa and identify her as the mother of Layla, who married Imam Husayn ibn Ali. A parallel report calls Urwa's wife Zaynab bint Abi Sufyan. Her personal dates, death, and burial are not reliably preserved, so the profile retains the supported genealogy while openly qualifying the marriage and name variants.
Her year, place, and circumstances of death are unknown; no reliable independent death account was found.
Her burial place is unknown. No verified grave, shrine, maqam, cemetery attribution, or GPS location was found in the reliable sources consulted.
Biography and historical profile
Maymuna belonged to Banu Umayya of Quraysh and is consistently identified as a daughter of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb. Ibn Sa'd gives her mother as Lubaba bint Abi al-As ibn Umayya, and Musab al-Zubayri preserves the same maternal identification. This establishes a clear Umayyad family identity and distinguishes her from Maymuna bint al-Harith, the Mother of the Believers, and from other women named Maymuna.
One early biographical line, represented by Ibn Sa'd, states that Urwa ibn Masud al-Thaqafi married Maymuna and that she bore him a child; it then says that al-Mughira ibn Shuba married her after Urwa. Ibn Habib's al-Muhabbar similarly connects her with Urwa, names a son Dawud, and records al-Mughira as the later husband. These notices place her within the prominent Thaqafi family associated with al-Taif.
A competing genealogical line is preserved by Musab al-Zubayri. It states that Abu Murra ibn Urwa ibn Masud married Maymuna and that she bore him Layla bint Abi Murra. Ibn Hajar's entry on Abu Murra likewise identifies Layla's mother as Maymuna bint Abi Sufyan. In this transmission, Layla later married Imam Husayn ibn Ali and became the mother of Ali al-Akbar.
The disagreement cannot be reduced to a harmless spelling variation. Some biographical works also record a Zaynab bint Abi Sufyan as a Qurashi wife retained by Urwa ibn Masud after his conversion. The surviving material does not securely establish whether Zaynab was another name for Maymuna, a distinct daughter of Abu Sufyan, or a confusion between the wife of Urwa and the wife of his son Abu Murra. Therefore no structured spouse link should be created without a separate registry-level relationship audit.
No reliable source consulted supplies Maymuna's exact birth year, death year, place of death, funeral, or burial. Her chronology can only be placed broadly in the first Islamic century through the family relationships reported in the sources. No verified grave, shrine, maqam, or map location is attached to her, and later genealogical significance must not be converted into an unsupported burial claim.
One early biographical line, represented by Ibn Sa'd, states that Urwa ibn Masud al-Thaqafi married Maymuna and that she bore him a child; it then says that al-Mughira ibn Shuba married her after Urwa. Ibn Habib's al-Muhabbar similarly connects her with Urwa, names a son Dawud, and records al-Mughira as the later husband. These notices place her within the prominent Thaqafi family associated with al-Taif.
A competing genealogical line is preserved by Musab al-Zubayri. It states that Abu Murra ibn Urwa ibn Masud married Maymuna and that she bore him Layla bint Abi Murra. Ibn Hajar's entry on Abu Murra likewise identifies Layla's mother as Maymuna bint Abi Sufyan. In this transmission, Layla later married Imam Husayn ibn Ali and became the mother of Ali al-Akbar.
The disagreement cannot be reduced to a harmless spelling variation. Some biographical works also record a Zaynab bint Abi Sufyan as a Qurashi wife retained by Urwa ibn Masud after his conversion. The surviving material does not securely establish whether Zaynab was another name for Maymuna, a distinct daughter of Abu Sufyan, or a confusion between the wife of Urwa and the wife of his son Abu Murra. Therefore no structured spouse link should be created without a separate registry-level relationship audit.
No reliable source consulted supplies Maymuna's exact birth year, death year, place of death, funeral, or burial. Her chronology can only be placed broadly in the first Islamic century through the family relationships reported in the sources. No verified grave, shrine, maqam, or map location is attached to her, and later genealogical significance must not be converted into an unsupported burial claim.
Historical importance and legacy
Maymuna's importance is primarily genealogical. The Abu Murra-Layla tradition connects an Umayyad daughter of Abu Sufyan with the Thaqafi family and, through Layla's marriage to Imam Husayn, with the maternal ancestry attributed to Ali al-Akbar. This relationship is historically important when stated with its source basis and without overstating the disputed marriage sequence.
Her profile also demonstrates the need for strict identity control in family-tree research. The names Maymuna and Zaynab, and the competing husbands Urwa and Abu Murra, cannot be silently merged.
Her profile also demonstrates the need for strict identity control in family-tree research. The names Maymuna and Zaynab, and the competing husbands Urwa and Abu Murra, cannot be silently merged.
Family relationships
👪 Parents
Father
Abu Sufyan ibn Harb
Confirmed
Mother
Lubaba bint Abi al-As ibn Umayya
Confirmed
🌱 Children
Sources
Al-Tabaqat al-Kubra | Ibn Sa'd | entry 4177, Maymuna bint Abi Sufyan; pagination varies by edition | https://shamela.ws/book/1686/2858 | father, mother Lubaba bint Abi al-As, marriage to Urwa ibn Masud, and later marriage to al-Mughira ibn ShubaNasab Quraysh | Musab al-Zubayri | descendants of Abu Sufyan; p. 121 in the displayed edition | https://shamela.ws/book/2922/121 | mother Lubaba bint Abi al-As and the competing report that Abu Murra ibn Urwa married Maymuna and she bore Layla
Al-Muhabbar | Ibn Habib | marriage notice; pagination varies by edition | https://ablibrary.net/book_content/3014/106 | records Maymuna with Urwa ibn Masud, a son Dawud, and later al-Mughira ibn Shuba
Al-Isaba fi Tamyiz al-Sahaba | Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani | entry on Abu Murra ibn Urwa; pagination varies by edition | https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/9767/3838 | identifies Layla as daughter of Abu Murra and Maymuna bint Abi Sufyan
Maqatil al-Talibiyyin | Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani | Ali al-Akbar entry; pagination varies by edition | https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/12404/82 | identifies Maymuna, also called Umm Shayba, as maternal grandmother in the lineage of Ali al-Akbar
Usd al-Ghaba fi Marifat al-Sahaba | Ibn al-Athir | entry on Zaynab bint Abi Sufyan; pagination varies by edition | https://ftp.shamela.ws/book/1110/3406 | preserves a parallel report naming Urwa ibn Masud's Qurashi wife Zaynab bint Abi Sufyan, creating an unresolved name attribution
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