Kamil Ahmad – The Lives of the Sahabiyyat – 14 – Zaynab bint Muhammad RA
AI: Summary ©
The discussion of the Prophet's death and the church's relationship with his wife, Um publications, and their relationship with the Prophet's wife, including their struggles with the Prophet's wife and the importance of acceptance of Islam. The history of the Prophet's actions, including his actions during the time of Islam, and the aftermath of events leading up to the birth of the Prophet relevance of Islam, are discussed. The interviewer describes the emotional reactions of the couple, including their desire to be recognized as a woman of Islam and the importance of their relationship.
AI: Summary ©
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the
Merciful.
All praise is due to Allah, the Lord
of the worlds.
And peace and blessings be upon the best
of Allah's creation.
And upon his family, his companions, and those
who are guided by his guidance.
And wait for his sunnah until the Day
of Judgment.
O Allah, teach us what will benefit us,
and benefit us with what You have taught
us.
And increase us in knowledge.
And show us the truth as it is,
and grant us to follow it.
And show us falsehood as falsehood, and grant
us to avoid it.
And make us of those who listen to
the word, and follow the best of it.
And after this, peace and blessings be upon
you.
We continue on our series on the lives
of the Sahabiyat.
And so far, we've gone through the lives
of the wives of Rasulullah ﷺ.
Ummahatul Mu'mineen, the mothers of the believers.
And last week we mentioned that Rasulullah ﷺ
also had some concubines, some female slaves that
were his, that he did not free, he
did not marry.
And we mentioned the story of one of
them, and that was Marya al-Qibtiyah.
Marya al-Qibtiyah r.a. And so we
now move on to continue our discussion on
the household, the direct family of Rasulullah ﷺ.
And this brings us to the daughters, the
daughters of our Prophet ﷺ.
Now, we previously mentioned that Khadijah r.a.
had bore all of the children of the
Prophet ﷺ, except for one, and that was
Ibrahim.
And we spoke about him last week, he
was born to Marya.
All the other children of the Prophet ﷺ,
those who lived and those who died, they
all came from Khadijah r.a. So we
have his sons from her, al-Qasim and
Abdullah.
Both of them passed away at a young
age.
And then we have his daughters, four of
them, who we're going to speak about individually
insha'Allah ta'ala.
Zaynab, Ruqayyah, Umm Kulthum, and Fatimah.
Now even his daughters, all four of them,
or three of them, three out of the
four, they passed away during his lifetime.
And the only one remaining when he passed
away was Fatimah r.a. And even she
passed away shortly after the Prophet ﷺ, only
six months after his death.
And all of his daughters witnessed Islam, they
embraced Islam, and they migrated to Medina.
So we start with the eldest, and that
is Zaynab, bint Muhammad ﷺ.
Zaynab was born after her sibling al-Qasim.
He only lived till the age of about
two.
And so the second child of the Prophet
ﷺ was Zaynab.
And she was brought up in the household
of Rasool Allah ﷺ before his Prophethood, before
he became a Prophet.
Now sometime after the Prophethood, once Zaynab had
grown up, her cousin from her mother's side,
her cousin, the son of Khadijah's sister, so
Hala bint Khwailid, the aunt of Zaynab, she
had a son, his name was Abu al-'As
ibn al-Rabi'ah.
He came to the Prophet ﷺ, and this
was before Prophethood, he came to the Prophet
ﷺ and proposed to marry Zaynab.
He wanted to marry Zaynab.
The Prophet ﷺ told him that, let me
consult Zaynab and see what she says.
So when he asked her, she didn't say
anything, but she smiled and she kind of
blushed, so she was shy, but this is
an indication of her approval.
This is an indication of her approval.
The Prophet ﷺ says, and this hadith is
in Sahih Muslim, he says that a virgin
is supposed to be sought approval.
A girl, you can't just marry her to
anyone forcefully, you have to seek her permission.
And the Prophet ﷺ says, إذنها سكوتها, her
approval is her silence.
Her approval is her silence.
So the two of them got married, and
they had a very strong bond, a very
loving relationship.
They had two children, a boy and a
girl.
As for the boy Ali, his name was
Ali, he passed away in his childhood.
As for the girl, her name was Umamah,
and she would go on to live a
long life.
Now, sometime after their marriage, our Prophet ﷺ
receives the first revelation at the age of
40.
And so he becomes a Prophet.
And so this is where the test comes
for Zaynab, that will continue with her for
many years to come.
And so along with her mother Khadija, and
the other first Muslims, Zaynab accepts Islam.
Knowing that her father is not a liar,
but he is truthful in what he has
claimed, and in what he has brought from
Allah.
And so now she goes to her husband,
Abu al-'As, and she tells him, Allah has
sent my father as a Prophet, and I
will never disbelieve in my father.
So what was his response?
He said, will you excuse me?
She said, from what?
He said, from accepting Islam.
I want you to excuse me, I respect
you, I respect your father, but I just
can't do this.
He said, if I accept Islam, Quraysh will
say, our people will say, that I changed
my religion for the sake of my wife.
So he looked at it as a matter
of honor, and he didn't want his honor
to be removed from the eyes of his
people.
So she said, if I don't excuse you,
who else will?
So initially, in those early days, she accepted
his excuse, and she continued living with him,
while she was a Muslimah, and he remained
a Kafir.
Now in those days, these were the early
days of Islam, the ruling of such a
marriage had not yet come.
Where a Muslim woman, who is with a
Kafir husband, what is the ruling on that
marriage?
Later on, many many years later, in Medina,
we're talking about, many many years later in
Medina, Allah would reveal the ayah, where Allah
says that, a Muslim woman cannot remain with
a Kafir husband.
So until then, there was nothing wrong with
a Muslim woman living with a non-Muslim
husband.
But obviously, this would put their relationship under
great strain.
How painful it must have been for Zaynab
to have her husband, whom she loved so
much, to reject the truth that her father
had come with from Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
Now Quraysh learned about Zaynab accepting Islam.
And now tensions were building between them and
the Prophet ﷺ, as he progressed in giving
da'wah, and so they increased in their
opposition and their persecution.
So they went to Abu al-'As, and they
tried to convince him to divorce his wife.
The only reason they wanted to do this
is because of their hatred and their enmity
for the Prophet ﷺ.
They wanted to put as much pressure on
him to stop his da'wah.
So they told him, look, divorce her, and
we will exchange her for any of the
women of Quraysh that you want.
Abu al-'As, he refused, and he declined their
offer.
Now what's interesting about Abu al-'As is that
although he remained as a kafir, he never
mistreated Zaynab or any of the other Muslims
like the others were doing, right?
Although he remained as a kafir, he was
very similar to Abu Talib and other men
of Quraysh who did not show hostility to
the Prophet ﷺ.
And so he continued to treat his wife
very well, and this stance of him in
dealing with the pressure that they were putting
on him by asking him to divorce Zaynab,
this shows how he was a man of
principles.
He was a man of principles.
Now it came time for hijrah.
Now it came time for hijrah to Medina.
Khadijah r.a has passed away, and it
is time to make hijrah to Medina, and
Abu al-'As is still a kafir.
All the Muslims have left for Medina, and
then the Prophet ﷺ also left with his
companion Abu Bakr.
And the only Muslims remaining behind in Mecca
were those who were being held back by
their family members who did not allow them
to go.
As for Zaynab, then she didn't want to
leave her husband.
She could have left with the Muslims, but
she was married to this man who was
not a Muslim.
So she decided to stay behind with him,
and she ended up being among the remaining
Muslims in Mecca.
And so you could imagine how huge of
a test that was for her, for all
the Muslims who have left, and here she
is still behind in Mecca.
Now it was time for the Battle of
Badr in the second year of the hijrah.
And among the army of Quraysh were some
men who did not want to join, but
they were pressured by Quraysh to join.
And among them was Abu al-'As.
Abu al-'As, he did not have any enmity
for the Prophet ﷺ or the Muslims, right?
But here he was pressured by the leaders
of Quraysh, along with others who didn't want
to go.
They were pressured to go along with them.
And now Zaynab r.a, she was extremely
worried.
You know, her test became even greater.
Either her father would be killed, or she
would become widowed.
Either her father would be killed or her
husband would be killed.
But look at the dua she would make.
She would say, Oh Allah, grant victory to
my father and protect my husband.
Grant victory to my father and protect my
husband.
Right?
Because her iman is with the Muslims.
And so she wants the Muslims to be
victorious.
But she does not want her husband to
be killed or to be harmed.
And guess what?
Allah ﷻ answered her dua.
Allah granted victory to the Prophet ﷺ and
kept her husband alive.
And so Abu al-'As was not killed.
But rather, he was taken as a prisoner
of war.
And so he was among the 70 prisoners
taken by the Muslims in the battle of
Badr.
So now what did Rasul Allah ﷺ do
with all of these prisoners?
They were told to basically ransom themselves based
on how rich they were.
So now the people of Mecca were sending
loads of money to free their relatives who
had fallen in the hands of the Muslims.
And now the Prophet ﷺ is receiving all
of these people from Mecca who are coming
with money to ransom and free their relatives
who were taken as prisoners.
And a bag was presented to Rasul Allah
ﷺ.
And he was told that this was the
ransom for Abu al-'As.
So he opens up the bag and he
finds a necklace in it.
He takes it out, he looks at it
and he starts crying.
The companions asked him what was wrong.
The Prophet ﷺ said, Do you know what
this necklace is?
They asked, What is it?
The Prophet ﷺ said, This was the necklace
that Khadijah gifted to Zaynab on her marriage.
This was the necklace that Khadijah gifted to
Zaynab on her marriage.
And so when the necklace fell into the
hands of Rasul Allah ﷺ, it brought back
memories of his wife Khadijah.
And so this necklace really touched his heart.
And we've mentioned, when we spoke about the
life of Khadijah, we mentioned how the Prophet
ﷺ even after her death, he would remember
her so much.
And here this is an example of how
he would remember her.
And so here Zaynab couldn't find anything else
to free her husband.
She couldn't find anything else to free him
with, other than her necklace that her mother
gifted to her when she got married.
Obviously it was something very valuable and precious.
But she had to free her husband.
So Rasul Allah ﷺ, he told the Ansari
who was holding Abu al-'As, he said, if
you think it's suitable to free her prisoner
to her, to let him go, and also
to return to her what belongs to her,
then do so.
Basically the Prophet ﷺ was asking the companions
who had captured Abu al-'As, you know, let
him go for free, and also return to
Zaynab what belongs to her.
And in one narration it mentions that the
Prophet ﷺ delivered a message to Zaynab along
with the necklace, saying, don't you ever be
neglectful of this necklace ever again.
And so Abu al-'As was released without a
ransom, and the Prophet ﷺ sent back to
Zaynab the necklace.
Now Rasul Allah ﷺ placed a condition on
the release of Abu al-'As.
That condition was that he would never assist
an enemy against the Muslims, and that he
has to let Zaynab go to Medina.
And Abu al-'As was a man of his
word.
So when he went back to Mecca, he
allowed Zaynab to leave Mecca and go to
her father in Medina.
And later on, Rasul Allah ﷺ would praise
Abu al-'As for this.
In Sahih al-Bukhari, the Prophet ﷺ says,
I married one of my daughters to Abu
al-'As ibn al-Rabi' before Islam.
And he proved to be truthful in what
he said to me.
And he promised me and fulfilled his promise.
And he promised me and he fulfilled his
promise.
So again we can see more examples of
how noble of a man this was.
Right?
Even though he was a kafir, he was
a man of his word and he was
a man who would stand on principles.
So now Zaynab رضي الله عنها she started
making plans to leave for Medina.
Before she left, she tried one last time
with her husband.
She asked him, isn't it time for you
to accept Islam?
Right?
She didn't give up.
Right till the very last moment, she tried
to give him da'wah and have him
to accept Islam.
He said, no, I'm not going to become
a Muslim.
And so now when she was ready, her
husband's brother, Kinana ibn al-Rabi' he brought
a camel which Zaynab got onto.
And then he took his weapon, his bow
and arrow and he led her away.
Now she was riding in what is known
as a hawdaj, which is like a compartment
that they build on top of the camel.
And usually women, they ride in this.
And it was daytime.
In broad daylight, she was leaving.
So some of the men of Quraysh noticed
it and they followed them.
The first one to reach her was a
man named Habbar ibn al-Aswad ibn al
-Muttalib.
And he scared her with his spear.
And since she was pregnant at the time,
she fell down and she ended up having
a miscarriage.
So she sustained some injuries.
Now her brother-in-law who was escorting
her, he got down and he took his
arrows and he said, By Allah, if any
man comes near me, I'm going to put
an arrow into him.
So the men of Quraysh, they started to
move away and then Abu Sufyan arrived.
He arrived with some other leaders of Quraysh
and he said to everyone, put down your
arrows so we can talk.
And he told Kinana, the brother-in-law
of Zaynab, he told him, let's talk rationally.
So Abu Sufyan came near him and he
said, What you have done is wrong.
You brought a woman openly in broad daylight
over our heads even though you're aware of
the damage done to us by Muhammad.
Basically, you know, the losses of Badr.
He's talking about the huge losses that they
incurred in the battle of Badr.
Then Abu Sufyan said, When you took away
his daughter openly disregarding everyone else, the people
thought that this was due to the humiliation
we had undergone and that this reflected our
weakness.
I swear, we don't want to keep her
away from her father and we're not after
revenge but you should take her back to
Mecca and then you can secretly take her
away to her father.
So Abu Sufyan was basically saying that they
had no intention of keeping Zaynab away from
her father in revenge for Badr but that
it was wrong to humiliate Quraysh by parading
her, you know, in front of everyone in
broad daylight taking her out and, you know,
showing everyone that we're going to Medina.
So he was saying, if you want to
do it, do it quietly.
Do it in the dark of the night,
etc.
And so this shows us that these Kuffar
of Quraysh they had respect for women unlike
the enemies of Islam today who violate the
rights of Muslim women and children the way
they do.
You know, look at the example of Palestine.
So anyways, Zaynab radiAllahu anha reached safely to
Medina and now she was reunited with her
father.
But at the same time she was missing
her husband and until now Allah had not
commanded Muslim women to separate from their kafir
husbands.
For the next several years many prominent men
from the Sahaba would come forward to RasulAllahu
sallallahu alayhi wasallam and propose to marry his
daughter Zaynab.
But she would turn all of their offers
down in hope that one day in hope
that one day her husband would come.
Now many years later in the sixth year
of the Hijrah the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam
sends Zayd ibn Haritha with a hundred and
seventy men to intercept a caravan of Quraysh
that was coming from Syria coming back to
Mecca.
It was along the coast some four nights
travel from Medina.
The attack was successful.
The Muslims they launched a sudden attack on
this caravan and the people of the caravan
were unable to fight back and so they
left all of their belongings and they ran
away.
So Zayd radiAllahu anhi took hold of the
caravan's load which included a lot of silver
belonging to Safwan ibn Umayyah one of the
leaders of Quraysh.
He also managed to capture a few prisoners
and guess who was among the prisoners?
Abu al-Aas ibn al-Rabi' And so
when they reached Medina Abu al-Aas went
straight to his wife Zaynab and he asked
her for protection and she granted him protection.
She announced to everyone that I am giving
protection to Abu al-Aas and so no
one should harm him.
And the Prophet ﷺ heard and he also
affirmed that he said we grant protection to
whomever she grants protection.
Then the Prophet ﷺ he came to Abu
al-Aas and because of who he was
the Prophet ﷺ he gave him back his
belongings and all of the merchandise of the
caravan and he allowed him to safely return
to Mecca.
He allowed him to safely return to Mecca.
When he reached Mecca Abu al-Aas he
gave everyone whatever belonged to them whatever belonged
to anyone from Mecca from the merchandise of
the caravan he returned it to everyone.
And then he finally made his move.
One may be wondering after everything that Abu
al-Aas has gone through being separated from
his wife and his daughter and being treated
so well on more than one occasion by
the Prophet ﷺ what is he waiting for?
Well, this was it.
He had finally decided to accept Islam.
He told the people of Mecca after he
returned everything to them he told them that
he was becoming Muslim.
He said to them I would have accepted
Islam when I was in Medina but I
had feared that you would think that I
only wanted to do that to rob you
of your possessions.
So he was saying that I could have
accepted Islam in Medina and I could have
stayed there but then you guys would have
accused me of taking all of your possessions.
So as we can see another example of
the character of this man Abu al-Aas
he was a man of noble manners and
principles.
So he then returned to Medina he went
to the Prophet ﷺ and he told him
that he had accepted Islam and the Prophet
ﷺ gave him back his wife he basically
remarried them with a new Nikah because by
now the ayah had been revealed concerning the
fact that a Muslim woman is not allowed
to be with a non-Muslim husband.
And so this is how Zainab was finally
reunited with her husband and this was a
day that she had long been waiting for
and Allah granted it to her as she
passed the various tests that Allah had put
her through so many tests that she went
through.
First when she accepted Islam her husband refused
but she stayed with him and then when
it came time to make hijrah she had
to be separated from her father and the
rest of the Muslims and then in the
battle of Badr her husband goes to fight
against the Muslims and she becomes worried about
that and then she frees him and then
she remains with him in Mecca for many
years until he is captured and now finally
after going through all of those tests she
is reunited with her husband however their reunion
didn't last that long in the 8th year
of the hijrah Zainab ended up passing away
and it's mentioned that her death was attributed
to complications from the miscarriage that she had
suffered earlier the injuries she did not recover
from and the women who washed her body
included Umm Ayman, Umm Atiyah Saudah and Umm
Salama Umm Atiyah she narrates and this is
in Sahih Muslim she says when Zainab, the
daughter of Rasulullah passed away he said to
us wash her 3 times or 5 times
or more if you see it necessary with
water and Sidr and then apply some Kafur
which is camphor at the end and when
you finish let me know so Umm Atiyah
she says so when we finished we informed
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and he gave
us his shroud, his cloak and he told
us to shroud her in it and so
this is how the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
honored his daughter Zainab he wanted the last
thing to touch her to be his shroud
which had touched his own body and was
thus full of Barakah and blessings when she
passed away Abu'l Aas he cried and
he said to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
I can't live on after the death of
Zainab and so this is what we call
a story of true love but not the
kind that they show you in Hollywood this
is a story of true love that is
based on the foundations of Islam and Iman
and love for the sake of Allah Abu
'l Aas he went on to live after
the death of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
passing away in Dhul Hijjah of the 12th
year of the Hijrah in the Khilafah of
Abu Bakr in the Khilafah of Abu Bakr
about a year or more after the death
of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam now we
mentioned that Zainab had one daughter that survived
and that was Umamah and the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam used to love her a lot
we have a hadith in Bukhari and Muslim
Abu Qatada narrates that I saw the Messenger
of Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam praying while he
was carrying Umamah the daughter of Zainab the
daughter of the Messenger of Allah and the
daughter of Abu'l Aas Umamah the daughter
of Zainab and Abu'l Aas he says
when the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam stood up
while he was praying he picked her up
and when he went down to Sujood he
put her down so this shows us how
much the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam loved his
granddaughter and she was his first grandchild Umamah
was the first grandchild of the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam and we can see how much
he loved her also Aisha Radiallahu Anha narrates
that one day the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
was gifted with a necklace made of black
beads adorned with gold now all of his
wives were gathered in a house and Umamah
she was a baby, she was a young
girl perhaps she was still crawling she was
playing with some dirt in the corner of
the room so imagine all the wives are
gathered and Umamah she's playing so the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam asked his wives what do
you think of this necklace?
they all looked at it and they said
O Messenger of Allah we have never seen
anything more beautiful or delightful than this so
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said by Allah
I'm going to place it on the neck
of the most beloved member of my household
I'm going to give it to the one
who I love the most so Aisha she
says the earth darkened before me out of
fear that he would give it to someone
else other than me right?
and she says I believe everyone else felt
the same way I believe everyone else felt
the same way as I did and so
we were all extremely anxious who is the
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam going to give this
necklace to?
then the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam walks over
to Umamah Bint Abil Aas Umamah the daughter
of Zainab he walks over to her and
he places the necklace around her neck Aisha
says at that moment the wives felt a
collective sense of relief and their anxieties were
lifted and so we can see here how
much the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam loved his
granddaughter Umamah and so this is the story
of Zainab the daughter of Rasool Allah Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam next week Insha'Allah we'll move
on to the next daughter of Rasool Allah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and that is Ruqayya bi
-idhnillahi ta'ala Subhanak Allahumma wa bihamdik ashhadu
an la ilaha illa ant astaghfiruka wa atubu
ilayk wa sallillahumma wa sallim ala nabiyina muhammad
wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'een wasalamu
alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh