Zainab bint Muhammad

Zainab bint Muhammad (Arabic: زَيْنَب بِنْت مُحَمَّد‎) (599—629 CE) was the eldest daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad by his first wife Khadija bint Khuwaylid.

Zainab bint Muhammad
زَيْنَب بِنْت مُحَمَّد
BornAD 599 (24 BH)[1][2]
Mecca, Hejaz, Arabia
DiedMay/June 629 (aged 30) (AH 7)
Medina, Hejaz, Arabia
Resting placeAl-Baqi'
Spouse(s)Abu al-As ibn al-Rabi'
ChildrenAli ibn Zainab, Umamah bint Zainab
Parents
RelativesHilal ibn Ali (grandson)
Qasim (full-brother)
Ruqayyah (full sister)
Umm Kulthum (full sister)
Abdullah (full brother)
Fatimah (full-sister)
Ibrahim (half-brother)
Ali (brother-in-law & son-in-law)
Uthman (brother-in-law)
FamilyHouse of Muhammad

Marriage

She married her maternal cousin, Abu al-As ibn al-Rabi', before December 610,[3]:313–314[4]:21[5]:162 and Khadija gave her a wedding present of an onyx necklace.[4]:22 They had two children, Ali, who died in childhood, and daughter Umama.[4]:21[5]:162. Zainab became a Muslim soon after Muhammad first declared himself a prophet. The Quraysh pressured Abu al-As to divorce Zainab, saying they would give him any woman he liked in exchange, but Abu al-As said that he did not want any other woman, a stance for which Muhammad commended him. Muhammad had no jurisdiction over Mecca and therefore could not force them to separate, so they continued to live together despite Abu al-As's refusal to convert to Islam. Zainab remained in Mecca when the other Muslims following Muhammad migrated to Medina.

Emigration to Medina

Abu al-As was one of the polytheists who was captured at the Battle of Badr. Zainab sent the money for his ransom, including the onyx necklace. When Muhammad saw the necklace, he refused to accept any cash ransom for his son-in-law. He sent Abu al-As home, and Abu al-As promised to send Zainab to Medina.[3]:314[4]:22

Zainab accepted this instruction. About a month after the battle, Zainab's adopted brother, Zayd, arrived in Mecca to escort her to Medina. She entered a hawdaj and her brother-in-law, Kinana, led the camel to Zayd in broad daylight. The Quraysh perceived this as an unnecessary flaunting of Muhammad's triumph at Badr. A group of them pursued Zainab and overtook her at Dhu Tuwa. A man named Habbar ibn Al-Aswad threatened her with his lance[3]:314–315 and pushed her. She fell out of the hawdaj onto a rock.[5]:4 Kinana showed the arrows in his quiver and threatened to kill anyone who came any closer. Then Abu Sufyan arrived, telling Kinana to put away his bow so that they could discuss it rationally. He said that they had no intention of keeping a woman from her father in revenge for Badr, but that it was wrong of Kinana to humiliate the Quraysh further by parading her removal in public; he must do it quietly, when the "chatter" had died down. Kinana took Zainab home again. There she suffered a miscarriage, losing a great deal of blood, which she attributed to having been assaulted by Habbar.[3]:314–315

A few nights later, Kinana took her quietly to meet Zayd, and he escorted her to Medina.[3]:315 Anas ibn Malik recalled seeing Zainab in Medina wearing a striped silk cloak.[4]:24

Reunion with Abu al-As

Zainab did not see her husband again until September or October 627,[4]:23 when he entered her house in Medina by night, asking for protection. Muslim raiders had stolen some merchandise that he was keeping in trust for other Quraysh, and he wanted to try to recover it.[3]:316 The next morning, Zainab sat among the women at dawn prayers and shouted: "I have given protection to Abu al-As ibn al-Rabi!" As soon as prayers were over, Muhammad confirmed that he had not known anything about it, but "We protect whomever she protects."[3]:317[4]:22–23 He told Zainab to treat Abu al-As like a guest. Then he arranged for the Quraysh merchandise to be returned, and Abu al-As took it to its owners in Mecca.[3]:317

Abu al-As then converted to Islam and returned to Medina. Muhammad restored his marriage to Zainab, and they resumed their married life.[3]:317[4]:23

Death

Their reconciliation was short-lived, for Zainab died in May or June 629. Her death was attributed to complications from the miscarriage that she had suffered in 624.[5]:4 The women who washed her dead body included Baraka, Sauda and Umm Salama.[4]:24

Shia perspective

One source states:

At one time there were three girls living in the household of Khadija. Their names were Zainab, Ruqayya and Umm Kulthoom. Zainab, the eldest of the three, was married to one Abul-'As ibn Ar-Rabi' of Makkah. This man fought against the Prophet in the battle of Badr, and was captured by the Muslims. To ransom his freedom, his wife sent to the Prophet, a necklace which at one time had belonged to Khadija, and she had given it to her as a present on her marriage. Abul-'As was set free; he returned to Makkah, and sent Zainab to Medina as he had promised to do. Zainab, however, died soon after her arrival in Medina. Later, Abul-'As also went to Medina, accepted Islam, and lived with the Muslims.[6]

Marriage rules

Based on certain narrations, also found in Sunnī sources,[7] Muhammad said that daughters of his household could only marry those who were from Banū Hāshim.[8] However, under Muhammad's watch:

  • Zainab was married to Abu al-Aas ibn al-Rabi', who belonged to Banu Abd-Shams, a clan of the Quraish tribe.
  • Ruqayyah and after her death Umm Kulthum were married to Uthman ibn Affan, who belonged to the Banu Umayya clan of the Quraish tribe.[9]
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See also

References
  1. Islamic Center of Fremont. "Zaynab bint Muhammad" (PDF). Retrieved 22 February 2020.
  2. Fahmina, Aafiya (9 September 2016). "The love story of Zainab bint Muhammad and Abu El'Ass ibn Rabee'". Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  3. Ibn Ishaq, Muhammad (1955). Guillaume, Alfred (translator) (ed.). Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah – The Life of Muhammad. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 88–589. ISBN 978-0-1963-6033-1.
  4. Al-Basri Al-Hashimi, Muhammad ibn Sa'd (1995). Bewley, Aisha (translator) (ed.). Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir (Volume: The Women of Madina) (in Arabic). 8. London: Ta-Ha Publishers.
  5. Al-Tabari, Muhammad ibn Jarir (1998). Landau-Tasseron, Ella (translator) (ed.). Tarikh al-Rusul wa'l-Muluk (Volume: Biographies of the Prophet's Companions and Their Successors) (in Arabic). 39. Albany: State University of New York Press.
  6. Restatement of History of Islam, by Sayed Ali Asgher Razwy, CE 570 to 661 : Uthman, the Third Khalifa of the Muslims: Uthman's Marriages
  7. al-Haythami, Ahmad ibn Muhammad Ibn Hajar (1965). al-Sawa`iq al-muhriqah. Maktabat al-Qahirah. p. 160.
  8. Ibn Qutayba, Abd Allah ibn Muslim (1960). Kitab al-Ma'arif. s.n. p. 70.
  9. Al-Mubarakphuri, Safi-ur-Rahman (1996). Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum (The Sealed Nectar). Riyadh: Dar-us-Salam Publications.
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