A Tradition Invented 53 primarily within her kinship and clientage circle. Fatima bint al-Mundhir, her daughter-in-law, and ‘Urwa, her son, are cited most often as the Successors who narrate her traditions. In this, she is similar to the wives of the Prophet other than ‘A’isha and Umm Salama. A woman whose historical profile is parallel to that of Asma’ is Lubaba bint al-Harith. She was the wife of ‘Abbas b. ‘Abd al-Muttalib (d. 32/ 653), the Prophet’s uncle; the mother of ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Abbas, a preeminent scholar of the early Muslim community; and the sister of Maymuna, the Prophet’s wife. She is acclaimed as the first woman to accept Islam after Khadlja. Ibn Sa‘d notes that she had six children, the likes of whom the world had never seen. So great was the regard for her progeny that poets lauded her as being among the munjibat (women who beget nobility). Further adding to her repute was her position as the wet nurse of the Prophet’s grandsons, Hasan and Husayn. Biographers point out that after the advent of Islam, she was the only woman whom Muhammad visited regularly. She deloused him and applied kohl to his eyes. That this level of closeness between Muhammad and a woman to whom he was not wed may have been discomfiting for biographers is apparent from Ibn Sa‘d onward. Her biographers are careful to note that she is the only nonmabram woman with whom the Prophet was allowed this intimacy after the advent of Islam. In citing this privilege, the biographers seem to have forgotten their own accounts of Umm Sulaym bint Milhan. The mother of Anas b. Malik (d. 91/709f.), an honored Companion and a prolific narrator of Prophetic traditions, Umm Sulaym is also said to have accepted him as a visitor to her home. ! 120 In one case, Ibn ‘Abbas and her son, ‘Abd Allah b. al-Zubayr, disagreed on a matter related to pilgrimage rituals, and Ibn ‘Abbas suggested that they refer the matter to Asma’. Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, 6:388. 1-1 Her biographies are available in the following sources: Ibn Sa‘d, al-Tabaqdt, 8:202-4 (s.v. “Umm al-Fadl”); al-Mizzi, TahdbJb, 35:297-98; Ibn Hajar, al-Isaba, 13:2 65-66 (s.v. “Umm al-Fadl”); and Kahhala, A 'lam al-Nisd ', 4:272-73. 122 This biographical summary is derived from Ibn Sa‘d, al-Tabaqdt, 8:202—4. For her biography, see Ibn Sa‘d, al-Tabaqat, 8:310-18; for mention of Muhammad’s visits, see Ibn Sa‘d, al-Tabaqat, 8:312-13. 124 Similar reports of Muhammad’s visitations are recorded about Umm Haram bint Milhan, the maternal aunt of Anas b. Malik. See, for example, her biographies in the compilations of Ibn Hajar (al-lsdba, 13:193) and Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr ( al-IstVab , 4:1931). The modern editor of Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr’s al-IstVab carefully notes that Umm Haram was within the "permitted degrees of kinship” as she was Muhammad’s aunt through a foster relationship (see al-Istl'db, 4:1931, note 1). Given that Umm Haram and Umm Sulaym were sisters, there may be some confusion among the biographers as to the identities of these women and the roles they played.