At Uhud
Nusayba had come to Uhud initially to give water to the wounded. When the Muslim lines broke after the archers left their positions, she drew her sword and moved toward the Prophet.
The battle narratives credit her with:
- Fighting Ibn Qami’a directly when he threatened the Prophet
- Receiving multiple wounds in the exchange, including a severe neck wound from a sword blow
- Her son Ammara was also wounded; she bandaged his wound and sent him back into the fight
- The Prophet said to her son: “Tighten the bandage on your wound, son” — and then to Nusayba: “Who can bear what you are bearing today, Umm Ammara?”
She asked the Prophet to pray for her to be with him in Paradise. He said: “O Allah, make them my companions in Paradise.” She said: “I don’t care what happens to me in this world after that.”
At Yamama — The War Against Musaylima
At Yamama (633 CE), the war against the false prophet Musaylima, Nusayba fought and was wounded severely — losing her hand. Musaylima himself killed her son Habib. She reportedly vowed she would not rest until she killed Musaylima herself or died. She was present when Musaylima was killed.
The Bay’a al-Aqaba
Nusayba was one of the two women who pledged allegiance to the Prophet at the second Bay’a al-Aqaba in Mecca, before the Hijra — the pledge that set the conditions for the Prophet’s emigration to Medina. This makes her among the earliest of the Medina pledgers, before the Hijra.
Her Legacy
The Prophet said: “Nusayba’s place on the Day of Uhud was better than the place of so-and-so.” She is cited as evidence that Islamic history includes women in combat roles when the community required it — not as norm but as response to necessity.
See also: Seerah Aisha, Asma Bint Abi Bakr, Seerah Khadijah, Seerah Umm Kulthum Bint Ali, Prophet Muhammad, Hijra