Hafsa bint Omar
Hafsah had a strong personality and therefore sometimes came into conflict with the Prophet. Especially when she caught him in her bed with a slave. Hafsa was a widow, her husband died in the battle of Badr.
Muhammad’s mission in Mecca wasn’t very successful. Moreover he wasn’t able to answer questions about Gabriel in the Bible. He failed the test. Muhammad arrived in Medina penniless. He had left Mecca and the people of Medina were unwilling to lend him money. In the meantime, Muhammad had already gathered quite a few followers in Medina. He was forced to go on a raid and attacked a caravan from Mecca near Badr. He had sealed the wells in advance so that his opponents had no access to water. Muhammad kept a well open for himself. So it was a battle for water that Muhammad won. He returned to Medina loaded with goods. The revenge that the Meccans later entered into turned out to be a defeat for him.
The Battle of Badr was the prelude to a six-year struggle between the Muslims of Medina and the people of Mecca. So Hafsah’s husband, the Muslim Khunais, lost his life at Badr. Hafsa was 20 years old and a widow. Her father – Caliph Omar – took it upon himself to find a suitable husband for his daughter. That turned out not to be so easy because Hafsa was a spicy lady. After the mandatory waiting period of three months, he offered her to Uthman and Abu Bakr. Both politely declined, much to Omar’s anger. He complained to Mohammed, who after a few days asked for her hand in marriage, saying: “Hafsa will have a better husband than Uthman and Uthman will have a better wife than Hafsa.”
It is quite possible that Muhammad felt morally obliged to protect the widow of one of his fighters. She may not have been the ideal Muslim woman. The Shiites do not have a favourable image of Hafsa because they characterise her as disobedient. According to the Sunnis, Hafsa is the mother of the faithful. Hafsa lived to be 60 years old and was buried in Medina with the other wives of the Prophet.