Kamil Ahmad – The Lives of the Sahabiyyat – 08 – Zaynab bint Jahsh RA
AI: Summary ©
The segment discusses the history of Islam, including the rise of women in society and the importance of acceptance of divorce. The interviewer discusses various examples of Islam criticizing the Prophet's desire to marry with them, including the use of backwards verses and false predictions. The interviewer also discusses the characteristics and characteristics of the Prophet's love for the gods and distributing gifts to the poor and needy. The interviewer describes the woman who distributes all of the wealth and wealth she gave to the poor and the needy, and later passed away at 23.
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 are guided by his guidance, and those
who wait by 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, and grant us
to follow it.
And show us what is false, and grant
us to avoid it.
And make us of those who listen to
the word, and follow the best of it.
And admit us with Your mercy among Your
righteous servants.
And after this, peace and blessings be upon
you.
We continue on with our series on the
lives of the Sahabiyat.
And today we move on to another one
of the Ummahatul Mu'mineen, one of the wives
of Rasulullah ﷺ.
And today we have with us Zaynab bint
Jahsh.
رضي الله عنها زينب بنت جحش رضي الله
عنها And so she is Zaynab bint Jahsh
ibn Riyab from the family of Banu Asad,
which is a family of Quraysh.
Although her father was not living in Mecca.
He wasn't from Mecca.
He migrated to Mecca and he settled there.
And it was there that he married the
mother of Zaynab رضي الله عنها And her
mother was basically the daughter of Abdul Muttalib.
Umaymah bint Abdul Muttalib So the aunt of
Rasulullah ﷺ, the paternal aunt of the Prophet
ﷺ was the mother of Zaynab bint Jahsh.
So that would make Zaynab the cousin of
the Prophet ﷺ from her mother's side.
And Zaynab bint Jahsh was born about 33
years before the Hijrah.
Approximately 33 years before the Hijrah.
She had several siblings.
Among the most notable of her siblings was
her brother.
Abdullah ibn Jahsh And he was a well
-known companion who was martyred in the Battle
of Uhud.
In fact, his body was mutilated.
And so the Prophet ﷺ buried him along
with his uncle Hamza.
His uncle Hamza رضي الله عنه who was
the Sayyid ash-Shuhada, the leader of the
Shuhada.
And Hamza رضي الله عنه, we know that
even his body was mutilated.
And so the Prophet ﷺ buried the two
of them.
The Prophet ﷺ buried Hamza with Abdullah ibn
Jahsh in the same grave.
He buried the two of them in the
same grave.
And so this was the brother of Zaynab
bint Jahsh.
And Abdullah ibn Jahsh was married to Zaynab
bint Khuzaimah.
We mentioned this when we covered the story
of Zaynab bint Khuzaimah.
We mentioned how her husband was martyred in
the Battle of Uhud.
And this was her husband basically.
This was her husband, Abdullah ibn Jahsh.
And then after he was martyred, the Prophet
ﷺ married her.
That was Zaynab bint Khuzaimah.
And then we mentioned her story how she
did not live that long.
So coming back now to Zaynab bint Jahsh.
Her first marriage was likely before Islam.
However, the name of her first husband is
not really known.
But it is mentioned that he had passed
away sometime before the Hijrah to Medina.
So now she was alone at the time
of the Hijrah.
So she accompanied her brother, Abdullah ibn Jahsh,
on the Hijrah to Medina.
Now this is where another companion comes into
the picture.
And that is Zayd ibn Harithah.
Zayd ibn Harithah.
Now who was Zayd?
Zayd was a former slave of the Prophet
ﷺ.
He basically became a slave as a child
when one tribe attacked another.
And he happened to be among the tribe
that was attacked.
And so they took him as a slave.
And they sold him in the slave market.
And so he passed down through different hands
until he finally arrived in Mecca.
And we're talking about the time before Islam,
way before Islam.
So he was sold into the slave market
and then he ended up in Mecca.
And so he was bought by Hakim ibn
Hizam.
By Hakim ibn Hizam.
If you recall, Hakim ibn Hizam was the
husband of Khawlah.
Who was a very good friend of Khadijah
as well as Saudah.
So Zayd was bought by Hakim ibn Hizam
who later on gifted him as a gift
to his aunt Khadijah.
To his aunt Khadijah.
And then when Khadijah married the Prophet ﷺ,
she gifted Zayd to him.
She gifted Zayd to the Prophet ﷺ.
So now Zayd was extremely fortunate to end
up with the best of the best.
And to serve the best of mankind.
After some time, Rasulullah ﷺ decided to actually
free Zayd from slavery.
So he freed him.
But he allowed him to stay with him
and to continue to serve him.
And it was the custom of the Arabs
in Jahiliyyah to basically adopt their freed slaves.
And to ascribe them to themselves.
So when they would free a slave, they
would refer to that slave as being their
son.
So the Prophet ﷺ, he would call Zayd,
Zayd ibn Muhammad.
Zayd ibn Muhammad.
And this is what he was known as
in those days.
But then after Islam, Allah ﷻ abolished this
tradition.
And this was later on in Medina.
Allah ﷻ abolished this tradition.
Allah says in Surah Al-Ahzab, أُدْعُوهُم لِآبَائِهِمْ
هُوَ أَقْصَطُ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ فَإِن لَّمْ تَعْلَمُوا آبَاؤَهُمْ
فَإِخْوَانُكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ وَمَوَالِيكُمْ Allah says, call them
by the names of their fathers.
So these freed slaves of yours, do not
call them your own sons.
But rather call them by the names of
their fathers.
Allah says, it is more just in the
sight of Allah, but if you do not
know their fathers, then they are still your
brothers in the deen, in the religion, and
they are مَوَالِيكُمْ, they are your freed slaves.
So now Zayd is referred to as Zayd
ibn Harithah.
Once this ayah was revealed, he would now
be known as Zayd ibn Harithah.
However, as we mentioned, he remained in the
household of Rasool Allah ﷺ, and the Prophet
ﷺ really used to love him a lot.
We have many narrations in which the Prophet
ﷺ would express his love for Zayd.
So now when they were in Medina, Rasool
Allah ﷺ approaches Zaynab bint Jahsh, and asks
her to do something that she would not
feel comfortable with, and that was basically a
taboo in that society.
The Prophet ﷺ asked Zaynab bint Jahsh to
marry Zayd ibn Harithah.
So here we're talking about a woman who
comes from the nobility of Quraysh, and Zayd
who comes from a slave class.
He comes from the lowest class in society.
Why did the Prophet ﷺ do this?
It is mentioned by some scholars that here
the Prophet ﷺ wanted to break the barriers
of discrimination, and the class system that existed
among the Arabs.
And he wanted to start with his own
family.
So how did Zaynab bint Jahsh react when
the Prophet ﷺ told her to do this?
She outright said, no, I'm not going to
do it.
I am not going to marry him when
I come from Quraysh.
So the Prophet ﷺ said, yes, you will
marry him.
So now she was in a dilemma here.
She doesn't want to do it, but who's
telling her to do it?
It's none other than the Prophet ﷺ.
So she said, O Messenger of Allah, let
me think about it.
And as they were talking, Allah ﷻ revealed
in Surah Al-Ahzab, Allah ﷻ revealed, وَمَا
كَانَ لِمُؤْمِنٍ وَلَا مُؤْمِنَةٍ إِذَا قَضَ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ
أَمْرًا أَن يَكُونَ لَهُمُ الْخِيْرَةُ مِنْ أَمْرِهِمْ وَمَنْ
يَعْصِرْ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ فَقَضْ ضَلَّ ضَلَالً مُّبِينًا Allah
says, it is not for a believing man
or woman, when Allah and His Messenger have
decided in a matter, to have any other
choice in that matter.
Whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger has clearly
gone far astray.
So then when this verse was revealed, Zaynab
r.a she said, O Messenger of Allah,
I accept him as a husband.
I will not disobey the Messenger of Allah
and I will marry him myself.
And so there's a huge lesson in this
on submitting to Allah and His Messenger.
Allah revealed this ayah when Zaynab initially refused
to marry the one the Prophet ﷺ told
her to.
Even though this is something personal and she
felt that she had the right to not
comply by that order.
But when Allah revealed this, that it is
not appropriate for a believer, when Allah and
His Messenger have decreed and decided in a
matter, it's not appropriate for a believer to
have any other choice in that matter.
She immediately complied.
She immediately submitted and complied.
And so how about us today?
What right do we have for disobeying the
orders of Allah and His Messenger in that
which is far less than in this case
of Zaynab r.a?
If our desires are contrary to something that
Allah and His Messenger want us to do,
we do what Allah and His Messenger want
us to do.
We don't follow our whims and our desires,
but rather we follow the commands of Allah
and His Messenger.
What excuse do we have for not submitting?
Just because we don't like it?
Just because it doesn't suit our hawa, our
whims and desires?
Just because it was inconvenient for us?
We have to understand that we are servants,
we are slaves of Allah.
And we are followers of Muhammad ﷺ.
And whatever we're told to do, we do
it.
It's not up to us to decide in
that which Allah and His Messenger have decided
for us.
So anyways, they got married.
And they both tried their best to live
a happy marital life.
But subhanAllah, things just did not work out.
Even though when it comes to the deen,
they were both from among the early Muslims,
both Zaynab bint Jahsh and Zayd ibn Harithah.
They were both from the very, very early
Muslims.
And both were known for their piety, their
taqwa, and their religious adherence to the deen.
But perhaps because they came from different backgrounds,
here you have one who's coming from a
noble class and the other who's coming from
the lower class, perhaps because of their backgrounds,
there ended up being problems and incompatibility.
And so they could not continue.
Zayd ibn Harithah would come to the Prophet
ﷺ complaining about his wife.
But the Prophet ﷺ told him, He told
him, He told him, The
Prophet ﷺ told Zayd, Fear Allah and keep
your wife.
Keep her with you.
But things just could not continue on.
There just wasn't that compatibility.
And so he was not happy with her
and she wasn't happy with him.
So divorce was a must.
And in the end, the marriage was ended
after perhaps less than a year.
Perhaps less than a year.
And this actually shows us the mercy of
Allah in legislating divorce.
We see in the story how Islam allows
divorce in cases where the husband and the
wife just don't see eye to eye.
And there is no compatibility.
Unfortunately, some Muslims today have an incorrect perception
of divorce.
They think that it is something that should
never be done.
Here we have an example of divorce among
the most righteous Muslims in history.
We're talking about the best of generations.
And even among them, we're talking about the
best.
The best of the best.
But being righteous and God-fearing does not
mean you can't ever separate.
This is because there are other factors besides
the deen when it comes to marriage.
And that is personalities, personal preferences related to
the dunya, related to how to live life,
and so on and so forth.
So anyways, the two of them were now
separated.
Now while all of this was going on,
Rasulullah ﷺ had knowledge that this marriage would
fail and eventually he would end up marrying
Zaynab.
Eventually he would end up marrying Zaynab.
However, he was afraid of the backlash and
what the people would say.
Why?
There was another aspect of Arab Jahiliyyah that
Allah wanted the Prophet ﷺ to bring an
end to.
And so adopting slaves and making them your
own children was normal.
The Prophet ﷺ had adopted Zayd when he
was young, and he was even known as
Zayd ibn Muhammad.
Later on, Allah ended this as we mentioned.
But since Zayd was already looked at as
being the son of the Prophet ﷺ, in
their society, it was not possible for him
to marry his son's wife even after a
divorce.
It was a no-no for a man
to marry the wife of his adopted son.
And so all of the rules that apply
between a son and his father, it applies
between Muhammad ﷺ and his adopted son Zayd.
And one of those rules that existed in
those days was that a man can never
marry the wife of his adopted son.
But now Allah has abolished the whole concept
of adopting your freed slaves.
So Allah wanted the Prophet ﷺ to break
this tradition among the Arabs.
And what better way to do so than
having him to break that rule himself.
And so it carries more weight when Rasool
Allah ﷺ would do it than if he
was just to speak about it.
But naturally he was afraid.
He was afraid, you know, what are the
people going to say if I marry her
now?
And that's why he told Zayd when Zayd
came to him complaining about Zaynab, the Prophet
ﷺ said, fear Allah and keep your wife.
So in the end Allah revealed an ayah.
And by the way, all of this happened
after the battle of Ahzab.
In the fifth year of the Hijrah.
Allah revealed the following ayah in Suratul Ahzab.
إِذْ تَقُولُ لِلَّذِي أَنْعَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَأَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِ
أَمْسِكْ عَلَيْكَ زَوْجَكَ وَاتَّقِ اللَّهِ Allah addresses the
Prophet ﷺ and says, And when you, O
Muhammad, said to the one for whom Allah
has done a favor, and you too have
done a favor to him, meaning Zayd, when
you said to him, keep your wife and
fear Allah.
وَتُخْفِي فِي نَفْسِكَ مَا اللَّهُ مُبْدِيهِ وَتَخْشَ النَّاسَ
وَاللَّهُ أَحَقُّ أَن تَخْشَاهِ While you concealed, you
hid within yourself what Allah was eventually going
to reveal.
And so you were considering the people.
You were fearing the people.
Whereas Allah was more worthy of your fear.
So Allah says, you were trying to hide
this matter, that you're going to eventually marry
her.
And you were fearing the people, whereas Allah
is more worthy for you to fear.
فَلَمَّا قَضَى زَيْدٌ مِنْهَا وَطَرًا زَوَّجْنَاكَهَا لِكَيْ لَا
يَكُونَ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ حَرَجٌ فِي أَزْوَاجِ أَدْعِيَئِهِمْ إِذَا
قَضَوْا مِنْهُنَّ وَطَرًا وَكَانَ أَمْرُ اللَّهِ مَفْعُولًا Then
Allah says, so when Zayd totally lost interest
in keeping his wife, we gave her to
you in marriage so that there would be
no blame on the believers for marrying the
ex-wives of their adopted sons after their
divorce.
And Allah's command is totally binding.
Look at how straightforward these words were from
Allah.
They must have been extremely heavy on the
Prophet ﷺ.
That's why some of the Sahaba would say
that if the Prophet ﷺ was to hide
anything of the revelation of the Qur'an,
he would have hid this verse.
He would have hid this verse.
Why?
Because look at how harsh it is.
Look at how it criticizes the Prophet ﷺ.
And this in fact is one of the
proofs that the Qur'an is from Allah.
This in fact is one of the proofs
that the Qur'an is from Allah.
How?
Can anyone explain how?
Here you have a verse criticizing Muhammad ﷺ.
And by the way, this is not the
only verse in the Qur'an.
We have several other verses where Allah criticizes
the Prophet ﷺ.
In fact, we covered one of those verses.
If you recall in the story of Hafsa
and Aisha, when they plotted that plot, and
the Prophet ﷺ made haram for him, for
himself, what Allah had made halal for him,
that honey.
He said, I'm never going to have that
honey again.
So Allah criticizes the Prophet ﷺ.
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ لِمَ تُحَرِّمُ مَا أَحَلَّ اللَّهُ
لَكَ O Prophet, why are you making haram
when Allah has made halal for you?
Just in order to please your wives.
So look at how Allah would criticize the
Prophet ﷺ.
And we also have that ayah in Surah
Abasa, how the Prophet ﷺ left the blind
man and he frowned at him.
So anyways, there are several ayat where Allah
would criticize the Prophet ﷺ.
How do these verses prove that the Qur
'an is from Allah?
If you were to be giving da'wah
to a non-Muslim, you can mention a
lot of different things about the Qur'an.
How it is from Allah.
And this is one of the things you
can mention.
Basically, if he was a false prophet who
wrote the Qur'an himself, then why would
he put verses in there that would criticize
himself?
A false prophet, he's only going to praise
himself.
A liar who says that I'm a prophet
and this is a book that Allah has
sent me, why on earth would he put
something in there that basically criticizes him?
It could make him lose followers.
And so our Prophet ﷺ, he did not
hide anything of the Qur'an.
He conveyed it to us as it was
revealed, including this ayah.
So now, Zaynab r.a, her iddah was
over, and Rasul Allah ﷺ now sent for
her proposal.
And guess who he sends?
He sends Zayd ibn Harithah.
So Zayd, he goes, and when he arrives,
Zaynab r.a was busy preparing some dough.
So Zayd says that he couldn't look at
her, because the Prophet ﷺ was now interested
in marrying her.
So he turned his back to her.
And we have to understand that until now,
the verses of hijab were not revealed.
So if he wanted to, he could have
looked at her and spoken to her directly.
But this shows us his adab for the
Prophet ﷺ, that here the Prophet ﷺ is
interested in her.
She is no longer his wife.
I'm not going to look at her.
And so he turned his back to her,
and he said to her, Rasul Allah ﷺ
is proposing to marry you.
So obviously this came as a shock for
Zaynab r.a. She told him, let me
think about it.
I need to pray istikhara.
However, the Prophet ﷺ had already received the
ayah we mentioned.
Now this ayah that we mentioned, it mentions
Allah saying that we have married her to
you.
Once Zayd was done with her, we have
married her to you.
These are the words of Allah.
So the Prophet ﷺ went directly to her,
because now he doesn't need anyone's permission.
He has the permission of Allah.
And he went to her, and he proceeded
to marry her.
So she asked, is this how it's going
to be?
Without any witnesses, without any wali for the
marriage.
The Prophet ﷺ said, Allah is the witness,
and Jibreel is the wali.
Now one of the major lessons we learn
from the marriage of Zaynab to Zayd.
Coming back to the marriage of Zayd and
Zaynab.
One of the major lessons we learn is
how both of them had a good ending.
Many times when we think of divorce, we
think it's the end of the world.
And many times it is because of how
we're not following the Deen of Allah.
And we're not living lives that are pleasing
to Allah.
But it is a promise of Allah that
whoever fears Him, whoever is fearful of Allah,
وَمَن يَتَّقِ اللَّهَ يَجْعَلْ لَهُ مَخْرَجًا Whoever fears
Allah, Allah will make a way out for
them.
You're not going to live in misery as
long as you fear Allah.
Allah is going to replace it with something
better for you.
So we see that here in the end
with regards to Zaynab and Zayd.
Because both of them feared Allah, because both
of them obeyed the Messenger of Allah, Allah
made a way out for both of them.
And He honored both of them.
Allah honored both of them.
And so how did Allah honor them?
Allah honored both of them by sending down
revelation that would be recited until the last
day.
What greater honor could you want than that?
First of all Zaynab, Allah married Zaynab to
Rasulallah ﷺ from above the seven heavens.
زَوَّجْنَاكَهَا We have married you to her.
These are the words of Allah.
And that's why Zaynab bint Jahsh, she would
say to the other wives of the Prophet
ﷺ later on, she would say to them
as a way of boasting, she would say,
you were married by your families while I
was married by Allah from above the seven
heavens.
While I was married by Allah from above
the seven heavens.
As for Zayd, as for Zayd, how did
Allah honor him?
He is the only companion who has been
mentioned by name in the Qur'an.
The only companion mentioned explicitly by name in
the Qur'an.
فَلَمَّا قَضَى زَيْدٌ مِنْهَا Allah mentioned him by
name.
Even though there were many other companions who
were far better than him.
Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, and even the
wives of the Prophet ﷺ.
They all have a higher status.
But none of them were mentioned by name.
The scholars say that the reason Allah did
this was to honor Zayd, after he went
through what he went through.
First, he lost his status of being a
son of Muhammad ﷺ.
For years, he had the honor of being
called Zayd ibn Muhammad.
And then he lost that title.
And then he lost the wife whom the
Prophet ﷺ chose for him.
So he lost the honor of having his
name attached to Muhammad ﷺ.
So Allah honored him by making his name
to be mentioned eternally in the Qur'an
until the last day.
Now it's also interesting to note that this
marriage of Rasulullah ﷺ to Zaynab has been
a point of controversy with the kuffar, past
and present.
As for in the past, then the munafiqoon,
the hypocrites, they started spreading rumors when they
heard about this marriage.
The exact fear of the Prophet ﷺ, he
was afraid.
What are the people going to say?
And that's exactly what happened.
The hypocrites in Medina, they started saying, how
could he marry the wife of his adopted
son?
So then Allah revealed another ayah in Surah
Al-Ahzab.
مَا كَانَ مُحَمَّدٌ أَبَى أَحَدٍ مِن رِجَالِكُمْ وَلَكِ
الرَّسُولَ اللَّهِ وَخَاتَمَ النَّبِيِّينَ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ
عَلِيمًا Allah said, Muhammad is not the father
of any of your men, but rather he
is the messenger of Allah and the seal
of the Prophets.
And Allah has full knowledge of everything.
Allah has full knowledge of everything.
So they tried to use this marriage as
an attacking point against the Prophet ﷺ.
And they did it in the past, and
they continue to do it in the present.
You know, the enemies of Islam, the critics,
these Orientalists, who have studied Islam for years,
these academics in these universities, who try to
undermine our messenger ﷺ in an effort to
try to show how Islam is not the
true religion, and that Muhammad ﷺ is not
truly the messenger of Allah, they would attack
this marriage.
And it's interesting to see that there are
two particular marriages that the Kuffar speak about
the most.
The marriage of the Prophet ﷺ to Aisha
radiallahu anha, because of her young age, and
the marriage to Zaynab bint Jahsh, because they
surrounded it with tales and legends, and said,
look at how the Prophet ﷺ had this
love affair for her, he wanted to marry
her, he had this crush on her, and
then he ended up marrying her in this
way.
But what's interesting to see is that both
of these marriages, both of them were actually
commanded by Allah.
Out of all the marriages, both of them
were actually commanded by Allah.
In the case of Zaynab radiallahu anha, we
saw, it's an ayah in the Qur'an.
In the case of Aisha radiallahu anha, when
we spoke about her life, we mentioned that
the Prophet ﷺ saw her in a dream.
And Jibreel said, this is your wife in
the dunya and in the akhirah.
And the dreams of the Prophets are wahi,
revelation from Allah.
Anyways, after the marriage, the Prophet ﷺ now
marries Zaynab bint Jahsh.
He prepared a massive feast and invited some
300 companions for the waleema.
Anas radiallahu anhu mentions how the Prophet ﷺ
sent him out to call everyone.
So Anas says he went out and whoever
he saw, he would invite them.
And so the Prophet ﷺ slaughtered a sheep.
And the Prophet ﷺ had not prepared a
waleema for any of his wives like this
before.
So after everyone had finished eating, they remained
behind.
They wanted to chill, they wanted to have
a good time in the company of the
Prophet ﷺ.
So they ended up staying behind, chatting and
being in the company of the Prophet ﷺ.
However, they ended up prolonging their stay into
the night.
And the Prophet ﷺ, he was getting uncomfortable.
I mean, he just got married and this
would be his first night with his new
wife.
But at the same time, our Prophet ﷺ
was the man that he was.
Of high character, of high manners.
Allah praises the Prophet ﷺ for his high
level of manners.
So the Prophet ﷺ did not say anything
to them as he did not want to
offend them.
He remained silent.
So in the end, they finally got up
and left.
Except for three companions.
They stayed behind.
And they were still chatting and they were
still there.
Until Umar ﷺ came and he told them
that, you know what?
It's better if you guys left.
It's better if you left.
So after everyone left, sometime after that Allah
ﷻ revealed the following ayah.
Again, this is also in Suratul Ahzab.
Allah ﷻ says, يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا
تَدْخُلُوا بُيُوتَ النَّبِيِّ إِلَّا أَن يُؤْذَنَ لَكُمْ إِلَى
طَعَامٍ غَيْرَ نَاظِرِينَ إِنَاهَ وَلَكِنْ إِذَا دُعِيْتُمْ فَدُخُلُوا
فَإِذَا طَعِمْتُمْ فَانْتَشِرُوا وَلَا مُسْتَأْنِسِينَ لِحَدِثٍ Allah says,
O you who believe, do not enter the
homes of the Prophet without permission, and if
you are invited for a meal, do not
come too early and then linger and stay
behind until the meal is ready.
But if you are invited, then enter on
time, and once you have eaten, then go
on your way, and do not stay for
casual talk.
And then Allah says, إِنَّ ذَلِكُمْ كَانَ يُؤْذِنَّ
بِيَّ فَيَسْتَحْيِي مِنْكُمْ وَاللَّهُ لَا يَسْتَحْيِي مِنَ الْحَقِّ
Allah says, such behavior, it was annoying to
the Prophet, but he is too shy to
ask you to leave.
But Allah is never shy of the truth,
but Allah is never shy of the truth.
And so, this is what Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala revealed on this occasion.
Now Zaynab bin Jahsh radiallahu anha, she was
known for her piety and her righteousness, and
this was something that was attested to by
Aisha radiallahu anha.
Even though Aisha was her co-wife, right?
But that did not prevent her from speaking
highly of Zaynab radiallahu anha.
And this is a huge lesson for us,
that even when the wives of the Prophet
ﷺ, they had this natural jealousy that every
co-wife has for her husband, but yet,
these women, the wives of the Prophet ﷺ,
would not allow that to get to them.
And they wouldn't allow that to come in
the way of speaking the truth.
So what did Aisha radiallahu anha say about
Zaynab?
This takes us back to the story of
the ifk, right?
The story of the slander of Aisha radiallahu
anha that we spoke about when we spoke
about the life of Aisha radiallahu anha.
So when those rumors were spreading, and the
Prophet ﷺ was not getting any revelation from
Allah.
So here the Prophet ﷺ is on his
own.
He's not being supported by any revelation from
Allah.
He doesn't know, are these rumors true?
Or is Aisha radiallahu anha innocent?
He doesn't know.
So he approached some of the companions to
ask them about Aisha.
What do you know about her?
Is there anything that you have seen about
her that I don't know?
Anything negative?
So among those who the Prophet ﷺ approached
was Zaynab bin Jahsh.
He asked her, what do you know of
Aisha?
What did she say?
Zaynab radiallahu anha said, I am not going
to say anything that my ears did not
hear or my eyes did not witness.
I don't know anything about her except good.
I don't know anything about her except good.
So then in the end of that story,
Aisha radiallahu anha, when she was narrating the
story, she mentioned the names of some of
those who were involved in the slander.
Who were spreading those rumors and that gossip.
And she mentioned among them Hamna bint Jahsh.
Who was Hamna bint Jahsh?
She was the sister of Zaynab bint Jahsh.
Aisha radiallahu anha says that Hamna was involved
in the slander for the sake of her
sister.
Basically she saw this as an opportunity to
bring Aisha down so that Zaynab becomes the
most beloved wife to the Prophet ﷺ.
This was because at the time the only
other wife that would rival Aisha in her
love for the Prophet ﷺ was Zaynab.
It was Zaynab.
Remember in the story of Hafsa, how Hafsa
and Aisha radiallahu anhuma, they plotted against Zaynab.
It was Zaynab bint Jahsh who was giving
honey to the Prophet ﷺ.
And they got jealous.
So the Prophet ﷺ used to love Zaynab,
but as we know when we spoke about
Aisha, Aisha was the most beloved of his
wives to him.
Perhaps Zaynab would come in second.
So anyways, Aisha radiallahu anha says, Zaynab was
the only one of his wives who rivaled
my status with him.
Allah saved her from that evil, from that
slander, because of her piety, because of her
righteousness.
For she spoke only good of me.
And so Aisha radiallahu anha praises Zaynab here,
because if you think about it, Zaynab radiallahu
anha, she could have easily have taken advantage
of the situation and do harm to Aisha,
as her sister wanted, hamna.
But Aisha says that it was the taqwa
of Zaynab and her righteousness that prevented her
from doing that.
So she feared Allah.
And among the things that Aisha says about
Zaynab, she says, I have never seen a
woman better than her in her religion, and
more fearful of Allah than her, and more
truthful in her speech than her, and more
attentive to keeping the ties of relations than
her.
And I have never seen a woman who
used to give more than her, who was
more charitable and generous than her.
And she would give herself totally to the
good deed that she would be doing.
The only thing with her is that she
had a temper.
But she would soon, very soon, she would
come back to her normal state.
So look at how Aisha radiallahu anha praises
Zaynab bint Jahsh.
And this hadith is in Sahih Muslim.
And it shows us how fair and honest
Aisha radiallahu anha was.
Also among the good qualities of Zaynab bint
Jahsh was something that the Prophet ﷺ testified
to.
One day the Prophet ﷺ said to Umar
ibn al-Khattab, he said, Zaynab bint Jahsh
is awwahun.
She is awwah.
So someone, he asked the Prophet ﷺ, who
is awwah?
What does that mean?
So the Prophet ﷺ said, that is someone
who is khashi'un mutathara' Someone who worships
Allah with humility.
Meaning someone who is soft-hearted and prays
to Allah with humility in a state of
humbleness and someone whose heart is attached to
Allah and they cry when they are praying,
for example.
And this is a quality that Allah praises
Ibrahim ﷺ for.
Allah says, inna Ibrahima lahaleemun awwahun muneeb Truly
Ibrahim was haleem, he was forbearing, and he
was awwahun, this trait of being humble and
in a state of humility when worshipping Allah.
And he was muneeb, ever turning to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Zainab radiallahu anha was also known for her
salah, for praying.
She would pray a lot and she would
make her salah very lengthy.
In Sahih al-Bukhari, it mentions that she
prayed so much at night, she would pray
so much that she would hang a rope
between two pillars in the masjid.
And then she would hold on to it
when she became too tired to stand.
She would hold on to it when she
would become too tired to stand.
When the Prophet ﷺ discovered this rope, he
removed it, and he told her that when
you become tired, you should stop praying and
just sit down.
Just take a break and sit down.
But this shows us that she was on
another level in terms of her ibadah.
After the death of Rasulallah ﷺ, Zainab bint
Jahsh, she did not really narrate as many
ahadith as Aisha and Umm Salama.
We mentioned how they narrated many, hundreds of
ahadith.
It's mentioned that she narrated only some 11
ahadith.
And this could also be because she did
not live on that long after the death
of the Prophet ﷺ.
Or she didn't live on as long as
the other wives.
We mentioned with regards to all the other
wives besides Khadijah, they lived for a very
long time throughout all the four Khulafa.
In Suhiyyah al-Bukhari, Aisha says, some of
the wives of the Prophet ﷺ once asked
him, who among us will be the first
to follow you?
Meaning, who among us is going to die
first after you?
So the Prophet ﷺ said, the one who
has the longest hand.
The one who has the longest hand.
So she says, we started measuring our hands
with a stick.
And the hand of Saudah turned out to
be the longest.
She says, however, when Zaynab bint Jahsh passed
away first, we understood what the Prophet ﷺ
was saying.
We understood that the long hand that the
Prophet ﷺ was talking about was a symbol
of Sadaqah.
Giving and being generous.
She says, so she was the first to
follow the Prophet ﷺ, and she was the
one who used to love giving Sadaqah.
And so this is another of the qualities
of Zaynab bint Jahsh.
She was known to be very generous in
giving Sadaqah.
An example of how much she would give
in Sadaqah, one day, and this is in
the Khilafah of Umar ibn Khattab.
Umar ﷺ, he sent her 12,000 dirhams.
12,000 dirhams.
And this was something that he did for
all of the wives of the Prophet ﷺ.
He would send them something for themselves to
basically live by.
So she says, may Allah have mercy on
Umar.
Couldn't he find some of my other sisters
to distribute this wealth?
So she thought that Umar ﷺ was giving
it to her to distribute it among the
poor.
So she was told, no, Umar ﷺ has
sent this as a gift for you, not
to distribute.
So then what did she do?
She ended up distributing all of it to
the poor and the needy.
She ended up distributing all of it to
the poor and the needy, and she only
kept very little for herself.
And then she said, oh Allah, do not
allow any more gifts to come to me
from Umar after this year.
It is mentioned that when she passed away,
her family did not find a single coin
in her house.
They didn't find a single coin in her
house.
Also Zaynab was one of the two wives
of Rasool Allah ﷺ who refrained from ever
making hajj again after the farewell hajj with
Rasool Allah ﷺ.
And so our Prophet ﷺ went for hajj
in the 10th year of the hijrah, shortly
before he passed away.
And he took with him all of his
wives.
And we previously mentioned which other wife said
that she would never make hajj again.
No, it was not Aisha.
We mentioned this.
It was, yes, Saudah bint Zam'a.
That hajj with the Prophet ﷺ was very
difficult for her.
Due to her age, she was very old.
She was in her 60s at that time.
And also she had a very large build.
She was heavy.
So she said, I'm never going to make
hajj again.
I've made it with the Prophet ﷺ, that's
sufficient.
As for Zaynab bint Jahsh, her reason was
due to how she interpreted the words of
the Prophet ﷺ.
After the farewell hajj, the Prophet ﷺ told
his wives.
He said to them, this, meaning this hajj,
is for you.
Afterwards, stay at home.
Afterwards, stay at home.
Now, the other wives understood from this, that
the Prophet ﷺ was telling them that this
is your hajj of Islam.
This is your obligatory hajj that you have
made with me.
And you don't have to make hajj again.
You've done your hajj.
But they did not understand from this, that
they were not allowed to make hajj voluntarily.
Like, enough of hajj.
But Zaynab, what she understood from this statement,
was that the Prophet ﷺ was telling them,
that's it, you've made hajj, now stay at
home, don't make hajj again.
And so she never made hajj after that
ever again.
And in the time of Umar, he would
not allow the wives of the Prophet ﷺ
to make hajj in the beginning.
But later on, he allowed them.
Later on, towards the end of his Khilafah,
he allowed them.
And it was him who took them, along
with Uthman ﷺ.
They took them for hajj, as we said,
with the exception of Saudah and Zaynab bint
Jahsh.
Now Zaynab, she ended up passing away in
the year 20 or 21 of the Hijrah.
So this would make her the first of
the wives of the Prophet ﷺ to join
him, as he foretold.
As he himself mentioned in that hadith that
we mentioned.
So this was approximately 10 years after his
death.
Approximately 10 years after his death.
And at this time, Zaynab ﷺ was about
53 years old.
And at the time of her death, it
was in the Khilafah of Umar ﷺ, he
gave instructions that no one should accompany her,
meaning her body, except her mahrams.
Except her mahrams.
Why?
So that no one would see the shape
of her body.
Remember that this is the first time a
wife of Rasulullah ﷺ passes away after his
death.
Right?
These are no average women.
We're talking about the wives of Rasulullah ﷺ.
We're talking about Ummahatul Mu'mineen.
They have a different status than all the
other women.
And Umar ﷺ, he took this status seriously.
And he wanted to respect them.
And this is the first time we have
one of his wives who is passing away.
So he gave instructions, no one should accompany
the funeral and the body.
No one should take it out to the
graveyard.
So Asma' bint Umais ﷺ, she was one
of the early Muslims who made hijrah to
Abyssinia.
She came to Umar ﷺ and she said,
Shall I not tell you something that the
people of Abyssinia would do with their women
when they would die?
So he said, Tell me.
So she went and she brought a frame
that would go over the buyer.
And she placed it over the buyer.
And then she covered it with a piece
of cloth.
So Umar ﷺ when he saw this, he
liked the idea.
He said, What a beautiful idea this is.
It's covering, not allowing us to see anything.
And so then he told everyone, Now everyone
come out to bury your mother.
Meaning, this is your mother, the mother of
the believers.
And it was from then on that this
is how women would be covered for their
janazah.
From then on, this is how the women
would be covered in Islam.
So this was a sunnah that was started
by Umar ﷺ.
And the Prophet ﷺ gave us instructions to
follow his sunnah and the sunnah of the
khulafa al-rashideen al-mahdiyeen.
The rightly guided khulafa after him.
And Umar ﷺ is one of them.
So this practice was started until this very
day.
If you go to Muslim countries, in fact
if you were to go to Mecca and
see the bodies when they are brought for
janazah.
After every salah there is a janazah.
And sometimes multiple bodies are brought.
You can tell which one is a man
and which one is a woman just by
looking at the shape.
So there is an oval shape, a bit
elevated over the bodies of women.
This is to protect them and to not
allow anyone to see their shape.
And so this was the story of Zaynab
bint Jahsh ﷺ.
We will suffice with this and we'll continue
next week on to another one of the
ummahatul mu'mineen.
Asalaamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.