Rufaida Al Aslamiya

March is considered Women’s History Month and this year I want to dedicate it to a marvelous Muslim pioneer woman, Rufaida Al Aslamiya whose name is undeservedly long forgotten. Rufaida was the first female nurse, surgeon, social worker and caretaker. It is reported that nursing was introduced to the Muslim world 1,200 years before Florence Nightingale. At the forefront of medical technology was a Muslim woman, Rufaida, who made indisputable contributions to the field of science and medicine in the early days of Islam.

In 620 AD, Rufaida was born into the Bani Aslam tribe of Khazraj in Medina. Her father, Saad al Aslami, was a physician. He mentored her and she became a distinguished healer. She was among the first people in Madinah to accept Islam. She contributed with the other Ansar (the Muslims of Medina) women to welcome Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) on his arrival in Madinah.

Rufaida implemented her clinical skills and medical experience into developing the first ever documented mobile care units that were able to meet the medical needs of the community. She also worked as a social worker, helping to solve social problems associated with the disease. Her tent was set up outside the Prophet's mosque, a place which was exclusively meant to treat people with wounds and diseases by primarily focusing on hygiene and then reviving sick and wounded patients, and then further went into more invasive medical procedures.

In times of war, Rufaida, along with nurses, would go to battlefields to treat the wounded. She participated in the battles of Badr, Uhud, Khandaq, Khaibar, and others. It is narrated that during the Battle of Khaibar, the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) asked Rufaida and her group to go with the army to the battle to treat the injured and help in any way that they could. The nurse volunteers did such a good job that Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) assigned a share of the spoils of war to Rufaida and her group. Their shares were equivalent to those of the soldiers who had physically fought in the battle.

During times of peace, Rufaida continued her involvement with humanitarian efforts by providing assistance to Muslims who were in need. She helped children in need and took care of orphans, the handicapped, and the poor. She was described as patient, kind, devoted, and committed.

History tells stories about her work, which were passed on over the generations. However, she has been rediscovered as the founder of nursing in the Muslim world, and several scholarly articles were written about her. One of the articles concluded, “Rufaida devoted her life to the development and improvement of nursing. She succeeded in laying new rules and traditions as the basis of better nursing.”

Today, in her honor an annual Rufaida Al-Aslamiya prize in Nursing is awarded to the top student of nursing at The University of Bahrain. In Pakistan, a building at the famous college of nursing at The Aga Khan University, is named after her. Every year The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) awards one student the prestigious Rufaida Al-Aslamiya Prize in Nursing. This is the time to pay tribute to a woman who worked single handedly within limited resources to serve humanity.