Kamil Ahmad – The Lives of the Sahabiyyat – 05 – Zaynab bint Khuzaymah – ra
AI: Summary ©
The Prophet's birthbred marriages with the mother of Zaynab and the mother of Zaynab's half-sister, as well as the mother of Zaynab's cousin and his spouse. The story of marriages with the Prophet is discussed, including his desire to love and care for others, and the importance of good health and behavior in one's life. The segment emphasizes the need to be sincerely for the sake of others and avoid denying oneself good deeds.
AI: Summary ©
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious,
the Most Merciful.
All praise is due to Allah, 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 were guided by his guidance and waited
by his Sunnah until the Day of Judgment.
And after that, 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 the
truth, 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 that, peace and blessings be upon
you.
We continue on with the lives of Ummahatul
Mu'mineen, the mothers of the believers, the wives
of Rasool Allah ﷺ.
And so far we've covered Khadijah, Aisha, Saudah,
and last week we spoke about Hafsa.
So these were the first four wives of
the Prophet ﷺ.
The fifth of the Ummahatul Mu'mineen, the fifth
wife that came in the life of Rasool
Allah ﷺ, is someone who is not that
much known among many Muslims.
And in fact, even her biography, there's not
much that has been written and discussed about
her.
And that is because she died very early.
And when we go to the books of
the biographies of the companions, we don't find
too much information about her.
Even though, as I mentioned, she is one
of the Ummahatul Mu'mineen.
She is one of the wives of the
Prophet ﷺ.
And as we know, the wives of the
Prophet ﷺ, they have a status that none
of the other female companions have.
They are our mothers, as Allah ﷻ says,
وَأَزْوَاجُهُ أُمَّهَاتُهُمْ And his wives are their mothers.
So she is one of our mothers in
terms of the respect and the dignity and
the honor that she deserves from us.
And some actually confuse her for another wife
who shares the same name.
And so, today we're going to be talking
about Zaynab bint Khuzaimah.
Zaynab bint Khuzaimah.
And a lot of people confuse her with
the other Zaynab that the Prophet ﷺ married.
And that is Zaynab bint Jahsh.
Zaynab bint Jahsh, who we're going to be
talking about later on insha'Allah ta'ala.
So Zaynab bint Khuzaimah was the fifth wife
of the Prophet ﷺ.
He married her shortly after marrying Hafsa bint
Umar ﷺ.
So since information about her is very little,
our discussion today is going to be shorter
than usual.
And so she is Zaynab bint Khuzaimah Ibn
al-Harith al-Hilaliyah al-Aamiriyah She
is Zaynab bint Khuzaimah Ibn al-Harith al
-Hilaliyah al-Aamiriyah So she comes from a
noble family of Quraysh.
She was born 13 years before the Prophethood.
13 years before Rasulullah ﷺ became a Prophet.
And we know that the Prophet ﷺ became
a Prophet at the age of 40.
So she was born when he was how
old?
She was born when the Prophet ﷺ was
how old?
20?
27, right?
And her mother was someone very special.
Her mother is Hind bint Awf al-Himyariyah
Hind bint Awf al-Himyariyah What was special
about her?
We're talking here about the mother of Zaynab
bint Khuzaimah The Arabs would say that there
was no woman who had more noble and
honorable son-in-laws than her.
There was no woman who had such noble
and honorable men to marry her daughters.
And so when we look at her daughters,
including Zaynab bint Khuzaimah, we see that pretty
much all of them married very, very noble
men of Quraysh.
We start with Muhammad ﷺ marrying Zaynab bint
Khuzaimah.
So what greater honor can there be than
Muhammad ﷺ marrying your daughter?
But it doesn't stop there.
It doesn't stop there.
The Prophet ﷺ ended up marrying her half
-sister.
Her half-sister, the Prophet ﷺ ended up
marrying later on after the death of Zaynab
bint Khuzaimah.
And she was Maymunah bint al-Harith.
Maymunah bint al-Harith.
So here the Prophet ﷺ marries two of
the daughters of this woman, Hind bint Awth.
The third son-in-law is al-Abbas
ibn Abdul Muttalib, the uncle of the Prophet
ﷺ.
Al-Abbas married Umm Fadl.
Umm Fadl was the sister of Zaynab bint
Khuzaimah.
And then you have another uncle of the
Prophet ﷺ marrying another of her daughters, and
that is Hamza ibn Abdul Muttalib.
Hamza married Salma bint Umais.
Salma bint Umais.
So she was a half-sister of Zaynab
bint Khuzaimah.
Number five, we have al-Waleed ibn al
-Mughirah.
You know, one of the leaders of Quraysh.
Al-Waleed ibn al-Mughirah, who married Lubaba
bint al-Harith.
Lubaba bint al-Harith, another one of the
half-sisters of Zaynab bint Khuzaimah.
And she is the mother of Khalid ibn
al-Waleed.
She is the mother of Khalid ibn al
-Waleed.
Number six, the cousin of the Prophet ﷺ,
Ja'far ibn Abi Talib, who married Asma
bint Umais.
Asma bint Umais, also the half-sister of
Zaynab bint Khuzaimah.
When he ended up passing away, when Ja
'far ﷺ ended up passing away, she married
Ali ibn Abi Talib.
And then, she ended up divorcing him, or
he ended up divorcing her.
And then Asma bint Umais ended up marrying
Abu Bakr ﷺ.
And she gave birth to all three of
her husbands, Ja'far, Ali, and Abu Bakr.
So as we can see, all of these
daughters of Hind bint Auf, married very respectable
and noble men of the Arabs.
And so this shows us how the mother
of Zaynab bint Khuzaimah was unique and special
due to this.
Now, Zaynab, she was initially married to a
man known as Tufayl ibn al-Harith, who
ended up divorcing her.
And then she married his brother, Ubaidah ibn
al-Harith.
And this Ubaidah ibn al-Harith, he went
on to be martyred in the Battle of
Badr.
However, there's another narration that it was not
Ubaidah ibn al-Harith, but rather, she initially
married Abdullah ibn Jahsh.
And this is perhaps the more correct narration,
that her first husband was Abdullah ibn Jahsh.
And he was martyred in the Battle of
Uhud.
He was martyred in the Battle of Uhud.
And the story of how he was martyred,
Abdullah ibn Jahsh was a very noble companion
of the Prophet ﷺ.
His sister was also the wife of the
Prophet ﷺ, Zaynab ibn Jahsh.
So, before the battle, before the Battle of
Uhud, Abdullah ibn Jahsh and another very famous
companion, Sa'ad ibn Abi Waqas, they met
before the battle.
And Abdullah ibn Jahsh, he said, let's go
and let's make du'a.
So they went together.
And one of them was going to make
a du'a.
And the other one was going to say,
Ameen.
So, Sa'ad ibn Abi Waqas, he made
his du'a.
He said, O Allah!
If I meet the enemy, then enable me
to meet a strong fighter, who will fight
me and I will fight him.
And then give me victory over him, and
enable me to kill him and take his
armor.
So, Abdullah ibn Jahsh, he said, Ameen.
Fair enough, that was a good du'a.
So, Sa'ad told him, now it's your
turn.
So, Abdullah ibn Jahsh, he said, O Allah!
Enable me to meet a strong fighter, who
would fight me and I would fight him.
And then he would kill me, and cut
my nose and my ear.
So that when I meet you, you will
ask me, why was your ear and nose
cut, O Abdullah?
And I will say, for you and your
messenger.
And you will say, you are speaking the
truth.
Sa'ad ibn Abi Waqas, he said, Ameen.
Sa'ad ibn Abi Waqas, later on, when
he was narrating the story to his son.
And he said, my son, the du'a
of Abdullah was better than mine.
By the end of the day, I saw
his nose and his ear tied to a
string.
Allah accepted the du'a of Abdullah ibn
Jahsh, and he did meet a very strong
man who fought him and killed him.
And his body was then mutilated, his nose
and his ear was cut, and they were
tied to a string.
And we know that in the battle of
Uhud, it was not only Abdullah ibn Jahsh
whose body was mutilated, but even Hamza ibn
Abdul Muttalib, the uncle of the Prophet ﷺ,
when the Prophet ﷺ saw how badly mutilated
his body was, he cried.
And he said that, I have never been
afflicted with sadness over the death of anyone
like your death.
So this was the husband of Zaynab ibn
Khuzaimah.
Now that her husband has passed away, in
the battle of Uhud, she was all alone.
And remember that she was from Mecca, so
she was from among the Muhajirun.
But she had left her entire family behind
in Mecca.
So now she was all alone.
It wasn't like others who had their relatives
and whatnot.
All her relatives and family members were back
in Mecca.
So she is now a widow, all by
herself.
And this is where Rasool Allah ﷺ, when
he heard, he came forward and he proposed
to marry her.
And we notice a pattern with the marriages
of Rasool Allah ﷺ He would often marry
women who had become widowed.
And this was simply because he cared for
his companions.
Just like he would take care of the
needy, the hungry, and the helpless, he would
also take care of the wives of his
companions who passed away.
And none of them would ever object to
our Prophet ﷺ marrying their wives after him.
And so there's no one better for them
to go on to marry after they have
passed away than the Prophet ﷺ.
And so we saw this with Saudah رضي
الله عنها We mentioned when we spoke about
her that her husband had passed away.
And so the Prophet ﷺ came forward and
married her.
And also Hafsa, when we spoke about her
story last week, the same thing.
Her husband passed away in the Battle of
Badr.
And so she was all alone.
And the Prophet ﷺ married her.
And we will see this pattern continuing with
some of the other women that the Prophet
ﷺ would marry.
And this is basically one of the many
reasons that the Prophet ﷺ would marry many
women.
And marry the women that he did.
This is one of the many reasons.
We previously mentioned other reasons.
And this is also one of the reasons
that him being the leader of the believers
and him being who he was, he felt
like it was his responsibility.
And he would marry whoever he felt needed
someone like himself.
The Prophet ﷺ married Zaynab bint Khuzaimah towards
the end of the third year of the
Hijrah.
So the Battle of Uhud took place in
Shawwal of the third year.
And this was about a year after the
Prophet ﷺ married Hafsa.
So about a year afterwards, he marries Zaynab
bint Khuzaimah.
Now it is mentioned that it was her
uncle Qubaysa ibn Amr that he is the
one who came to the Prophet ﷺ and
married her off to him.
And it is also mentioned that the Prophet
ﷺ proposed to marry her.
So she left the decision to him.
Meaning, you know, when the Prophet ﷺ proposed
to her, she didn't accept or reject, but
rather she said, I'll leave it to you,
whatever you decide, I'm okay with.
And the Prophet ﷺ married her and gave
her 400 dirhams as the mahr.
And he held a feast, a walima.
And Zaynab bint Khuzaimah, she had a nickname
that she was known by.
And that is Umm al-Masakin.
Umm al-Masakin.
The mother of the poor.
And so she had this nickname from before
Islam.
And this was due to her generous nature.
And being generous and compassionate towards the poor.
And then when she accepted Islam, she increased
in her generosity and her compassion and helping
out the poor and the needy.
So she would go out of her way
to give money, food and clothing to the
poor.
And she was also known for taking care
of orphans.
Right?
So this is what she was known by.
And to the point where she had this
nickname of being Umm al-Masakin.
And she also played a huge role in
the battle of Badr.
She was among those women who took care
of the wounded and the injured companions.
So nursing their wounds and bringing food and
drink for them.
Again this goes to show how much she
cared for doing good and helping others.
And so she was not passive.
Rather she looked for opportunities to do good.
To do ihsan and to do birr.
And help whoever needed help.
Now Zaynab bint Khuzaimah she did not spend
a long time with Rasool Allah ﷺ.
It was the plan of Allah to take
away her soul only a few months into
the marriage.
Some say 2 months, some say 3 months
and others put it at 8 months.
And so she only spent a few months
with the Prophet ﷺ.
And so she passed away in the 4th
year of the Hijrah.
At the age of 30.
At this young age of 30.
And the Prophet ﷺ prayed her janazah and
buried her in the graveyard of al-Baqi'
And so the only wives of the Prophet
ﷺ to pass away before him were 2.
Who were they?
Out of the 11.
Out of the 11 ummahatul mu'mineen.
Out of the 11 wives of the Prophet
ﷺ who were his wives in the dunya
and in the akhirah.
2 of them passed away in his lifetime
while he was alive before he passed away.
All the rest of them passed away after
his death.
Who were they?
Again, I couldn't hear that.
Khadijah radiyaAllahu anha and Zaynab bint Khuzayma.
Zaynab bint Khuzayma.
All his other wives, they outlived him.
And some even by decades.
We mentioned Aisha and Hafsa.
They both went on to live for several
decades after the death of the Prophet ﷺ.
Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, the famous commentator who
wrote a commentary of Sahih al-Bukhari.
He has a famous book of the biographies
of the companions.
Al-Iswabah.
So when he wrote about Zaynab bint Khuzayma,
he ended off by saying she passed away
in peace just as she had lived in
peace.
And the Prophet ﷺ prayed over her and
buried her in Al-Baqi' in the month
of Rabi' al-Akhir in the fourth year
of the Hijrah.
She was the first of the mothers of
the believers to be buried there.
May Allah be pleased with them all.
So this is what Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani
says about her.
And this is pretty much all that we
have about Zaynab bint Khuzayma.
This is pretty much all we have in
the books of the biographies of the companions.
You won't find anything more than this.
And so what we'll do is we'll just
end with some lessons.
Some lessons that we can learn from this
noble companion of the Prophet ﷺ.
Even with so little information, we can learn
certain things.
We can learn certain things.
Number one, our lifespans are in the hands
of Allah.
And none of us knows how long we
will live for.
Not even the Prophet ﷺ.
Even he did not know how long Zaynab
bint Khuzayma would live for.
He married her thinking that this will be
my wife for many years to come.
He had no idea that she would live
for only a few months.
And so the lesson here is that we
should not become deluded by our good health
or our young age thinking that, you know
what, I have a very long life ahead
of me.
And, you know, I could, you know, I
could focus on doing good and worshipping Allah.
I could focus on that in my retirement.
Right?
A lot of people, they think this way.
But the reality is that this life is
short.
And, you know, even if you live a
long life, that is a very, very short
life, you know, in the grand scheme of
things.
Right?
Compared to the akhirah, it's a very short
life.
60, 70, 80 years is very, very short
in the grand scheme of things.
So now imagine if that life is cut
short and you die at the age of
30 like Zaynab bint Khuzayma radiAllahu anha.
So the point is take advantage of whatever
time you have now before it's gone.
You know, someone who lives a short life,
someone who lives till like 20 or 30,
but they spend it in what is pleasing
to Allah.
They spend that time in what is pleasing
to Allah.
If they were to die young, they are
far better in the sight of Allah than
someone who lives till an old age and
they wasted their entire life.
Right?
And so Zaynab bint Khuzayma radiAllahu anha, she's
an example of someone who, you know, Allah
put barakah in her life.
Right?
She spent that short life in doing good
to the point where she was given this
nickname because of how much she was known
for, you know, helping the poor and being
generous and whatnot.
And there are many other examples of this
as well.
In our Islamic history, you know, you had
scholars who lived very short lives but they
left a legacy and people are benefiting from
what they left behind.
You know, you have for example Imam al
-Nawawi, that famous scholar Imam al-Nawawi.
He passed away in his 30s or 40s
and yet, you know, we have the works
that we do of Imam al-Nawawi, his
40 hadith, also Riyad al-Saliheen authored by
him and many other books.
So the point is that let us take
advantage of whatever time we have because we
don't know how long we will live for.
The second lesson that we learn is being
generous, you know, having this trait and this
noble quality of being generous and helping others.
And so Zainab bint Khuzaimah was known as
Umm al-Masakin due to her generosity and
she became even more generous after Islam because
she knows what Islam teaches about being generous.
Right?
Some people they have a certain good quality
because it is a part of their nature.
Right?
Like Zainab radiAllahu anha even before Islam she
was like that and then when they become
Muslim or they start practicing Islam they learn
that this is something beloved to Allah and
so they increase in that.
They increase in that.
Others, you know, that quality is not a
part of their nature but it doesn't mean
that they cannot elevate themselves to become like
that.
Right?
It just requires a struggle.
Right?
It just requires a struggle.
And, you know, Zainab bint Khuzaimah radiAllahu anha
is an example for every Muslim out there
of the importance of living a life of
ihsan, doing good to others and bir, being
generous and being righteous and living a pious
and righteous life not just within yourself as,
you know, in terms of your personal ibadah
and worship of Allah but more than that
in terms of helping others.
And so you have the good deed that
is restricted to the individual like for example
fasting or praying.
You know, this is restricted to yourself.
No one else benefits from that besides you.
And then you have those good deeds where
you get reward and other people are benefiting
from that.
Right?
When you compare the two sometimes the second
kind is more beloved to Allah is more
pleasing to Allah than the first kind.
Right?
So we should always make an effort to
do good deeds which the benefit reaches others.
Whether it be giving in sadaqah whether it
be physically helping people volunteering your time to
the masjid for example or whether it be
teaching something beneficial knowledge that you teach to
others.
And in the end of the day these
are things that also benefit us after we
leave this dunya.
So those good deeds that we do that
only benefit us they end with our death.
Right?
As the Prophet ﷺ said the Prophet ﷺ
told us that there are three things that
continue after our death.
He said all good deeds they end with
our death except for three.
And he mentioned the three, what are they?
What are the three things that continue after
our death?
So, giving any sadaqah?
No, it's a specific kind of sadaqah.
What is it called?
Sadaqah jariyah.
A continuous sadaqah.
Meaning, a sadaqah that the people continue to
benefit after your death.
For example, you help building a masjid.
Right?
People are still coming to that masjid after
you have passed away.
You build a well.
Right?
After your death people are drinking from that
well.
People are benefiting from it.
So this is number one.
Number two, the Prophet ﷺ said a beneficial
knowledge that you leave behind.
You taught something to someone that person carries
on implementing that thing after your death.
Or you wrote a book that people are
benefiting from after your death.
Right?
So a beneficial knowledge that you leave behind.
And number three, the Prophet ﷺ said a
righteous child that you leave behind who makes
dua for you.
A righteous child who you leave behind who
makes dua for you.
Why specifically did the Prophet ﷺ say a
righteous child?
Why did he not just say a child
who prays for you after you?
What's the secret in that?
Because of their righteousness.
So a son or a daughter who does
not live a righteous life, all they care
about is the dunya.
And this is the kind of child you
have basically brought up who only cares about
themselves and their dunya.
When you pass away, maybe they'll come for
your janazah, they'll make dua for you.
But after that, you will fade away from
their memory and they won't care about you
anymore.
They won't care about you anymore.
Why?
Because all they care about is their own
dunya.
Why?
Because they're not righteous.
Whereas a righteous child, a righteous child is
someone who knows your right over him and
her.
They know your right that Allah has placed,
that even your bir, that dutifulness to the
parents does not end with their death.
They understand that.
And they continue afterwards making dua for you,
doing righteous good deeds on your behalf, and
so on and so forth.
So the point here is that we need
to focus on nurturing righteous children.
So that they benefit us after our death.
Lesson number three.
We learn from the life of Zaynab bint
Khuzaimah that many good deeds, noble, great good
deeds are not restricted to men.
And so men do not have a monopoly
over doing good deeds.
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la has
given an opportunity to both men and women.
Yes, there are certain good deeds that only
men can do, like fighting in jihad.
But there are many other good deeds where
they share.
And that is why there have been many
women that have surpassed the men of their
time.
And many other men until the Day of
Judgment.
There are some women in our history who
have surpassed many men, not only of their
time, but all men until the Day of
Judgment.
Right?
And one of those is Zaynab bint Khuzaimah.
رضي الله عنها Right?
So this shows us that women should not
think that you know, men are going away
with all the rewards and we have nothing
left for ourselves.
There's a lot that we can do.
And you know, follow in the footsteps of
these noble companions.
Follow in the footsteps of these noble companions.
And we find that Zaynab bint Khuzaimah رضي
الله عنها was not the only one who
was known for her generosity.
But we also mentioned this in the stories
of Aisha رضي الله عنها and Hafsa رضي
الله عنها.
You know, all of them were known for
their generosity because they were who they were.
They were the wives of the most generous.
They were the wives of the most generous
of us.
Rasool Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم So obviously,
you know, living with him they learnt about
the importance of generosity.
The fourth and last lesson that we'll mention
is that we should not belittle any good
deed.
We should not belittle any good deed.
A good deed that you persist in doing,
you continue in doing and you don't give
up is far better than a big, huge
good deed that you do once and you
never do it again.
Right?
And we see this from Zaynab bint Khuzaimah
رضي الله عنها You know, her generosity was
not one time or two times or three
times.
But it was until she became known as
the mother of the poor.
Right?
It became a quality of hers.
It became something she was known for until
her very last, you know, day on earth.
And our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم tells
us in the hadith of Aisha رضي الله
عنها Aisha asked the Prophet صلى الله عليه
وسلم which good deed is best.
And so the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم
said ادومها وانقل The deed that is continuous
you continue to do it even if it
is a little.
Even if it is very little.
Right?
As long as you persist in it.
You don't give up doing it.
So for example, you know, giving a dollar
a day and, you know, continuing that forever
is far better than coming on, for example,
you know, in Ramadan and giving one time
a thousand dollars or two thousand dollars and
then never giving anything after that until next
Ramadan.
Right?
The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم says the
best of deeds in the sight of Allah
are those that are persistent, continuous, even if
they are small.
So the point is let us not belittle
any good deed and also let us focus
on doing good deeds privately.
Right?
Without being seen by anyone.
Without anyone knowing that you did it.
Right?
These are the ones that have a higher
chance of being accepted by Allah سبحانه وتعالى.
Right?
I mean, we do many good deeds but
we don't care, many of us don't care,
you know, has it been accepted or not.
Right?
We think, we think, for some reason we
think that every good deed we do is
being accepted by Allah.
But that may not necessarily be the case.
Right?
Our Salaf, they would say that the deed
itself does not concern me.
Meaning the effort I put into it and
doing it, that is not what concerns me.
What concerns me is after I have done
it, has it been accepted by Allah or
not?
That's what used to worry them the most.
You know, after I put all that effort
into it, did Allah accept it or not?
So, this is where we need to be
very careful of our intention that it needs
to be sincerely for the sake of Allah.
And what helps in that, what helps in
making the intention sincere is that you don't
do it in front of the people.
Right?
You don't do it in front of the
people.
You try to hide it as much as
you can.
Obviously, there are exceptions to this rule.
The scholars mention that, for example, sometimes it
could be better to do it in front
of people.
Like, for example, if you want to encourage
others to do it.
Right?
So, for example, when we have fundraising events
and, you know, they ask, you know, who
wants to give this much, who wants to
give that much, for you to put up
your hand and show the people to encourage
them so that someone else also gets up
and so that there is this competition among
the believers, then, you know, this is an
exception to that rule.
But the general rule is that we should
try to do our good deeds as privately
and secretly as possible in order for them
to be accepted by Allah ﷻ.
And so these are some of the lessons
that we learn from the life of our
mother, Zaynab bint Khuzaimah ﷺ.
You know, she lived a very short life
and an even shorter time with the Prophet
ﷺ.
But subhanAllah, look at her, look at the
privilege that she got.
You know, only a few months with the
Prophet ﷺ and she ends up having the
title of being a mother of the believers
and being the wife of Rasul Allah ﷺ
in this dunya and in the next.
InshaAllah next week, we'll move on to the
next wife of the Prophet ﷺ and that
will be Umm Salamah.
Umm Salamah ﷺ.
Alright, so we'll stop here inshaAllah.
SubhanakAllahumma wa bihamdik ashhadu an la ilaha illa
ant astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayk wa sallillahumma wa
sallim ala nabiyyina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa
sahbihi ajma'een wasalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh