Zainab bint Muhammad ( ar, زَيْنَب بِنْت مُحَمَّد) (598/599—629
CE), was the eldest daughter of the
Islamic prophet
Prophets in Islam ( ar, الأنبياء في الإسلام, translit=al-ʾAnbiyāʾ fī al-ʾIslām) are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God in Islam, God's message on Earth and to serve as models of ideal human behaviour. So ...
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
by his first wife
Khadijah
Khadija, Khadeeja or Khadijah ( ar, خديجة, Khadīja) is an Arabic feminine given name, the name of Khadija bint Khuwaylid, first wife of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. In 1995, it was one of the three most popular Arabic feminine names in th ...
.
Marriage
She married her maternal cousin,
Abu al-As ibn al-Rabi'
Abū al-ʿĀṣ ibn al-Rabīʿ ( ar, أبو العاص بن الربيع, died in February, AD 634), was a son-in-law and Companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. His original name was said to have been Hushaym or Yasser.
Family
He was the s ...
, before December 610,
and Khadija gave her a wedding present of an onyx necklace.
[ They had two children, son Ali, who died in childhood, and daughter Umamah, who would bear children, including Hilal or Muhammad al-Awsat.] Zainab became a Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
soon after Muhammad first declared himself a prophet. The Quraysh
The Quraysh ( ar, قُرَيْشٌ) were a grouping of Arab clans that historically inhabited and controlled the city of Mecca and its Kaaba. The Islamic prophet Muhammad was born into the Hashim clan of the tribe. Despite this, many of the Qur ...
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
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
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
Polytheism is the belief in multiple deities, which are usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own religious sects and rituals. Polytheism is a type of theism. Within theism, it contrasts with monotheism, the ...
who was captured at the Battle of Badr
The Battle of Badr ( ar, غَزْوَةُ بَدِرْ ), also referred to as The Day of the Criterion (, ) in the Quran, Qur'an and by Muslims, was fought on 13 March 624 CE (17 Ramadan (calendar month), Ramadan, 2 Anno Hegirae, AH), near the ...
. 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.[
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][ and pushed her. She fell out of the hawdaj onto a rock.][ Kinana showed the arrows in his quiver and threatened to kill anyone who came any closer. Then ]Abu Sufyan
Sakhr ibn Harb ibn Umayya ibn Abd Shams ( ar, صخر بن حرب بن أمية بن عبد شمس, Ṣakhr ibn Ḥarb ibn Umayya ibn ʿAbd Shams; ), better known by his '' kunya'' Abu Sufyan ( ar, أبو سفيان, Abū Sufyān), was a prominent ...
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.[
A few nights later, Kinana took her quietly to meet Zayd, and he escorted her to Medina.][ Anas ibn Malik recalled seeing Zainab in Medina wearing a striped silk cloak.][
]
Reunion with Abu al-As
Zainab did not see her husband again until September or October 627,[ 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.][ 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."][ 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.][
Abu al-As then converted to Islam and returned to Medina. Muhammad restored his marriage to Zainab, and they resumed their married life.][
]
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.[ The women who washed her dead body included ]Umm Ayman
Baraka bint Thaʿlaba ( ar, بَـرَكَـة بنت ثَعلَبَة), commonly known by her kunya Umm Ayman ( ar, أمّ أيمن, links=no), was an early Muslim and companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
She was an Abyssinian slave o ...
, Sawdah and Umm Salama
Hind bint Abi Umayya ( ar, هِنْد بِنْت أَبِي أُمَيَّة, Hind ʾibnat ʾAbī ʾUmayya, 580 or 596 – 680 or 683), better known as Umm Salama ( ar, أُمّ سَلَمَة, link=no) or Hind al-Makhzūmiyah ( ar, هِنْد ...
.[
One source states:
]
See also
*Muhammad in Islam
Muḥammad bin ʿAbd Allāh bin ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib bin Hāshim ( ar, ; 570 – 8 June 632 CE), is believed to be the seal of the messengers and prophets of God in all the main branches of Islam. Muslims believe that the Quran, the cen ...
* Children of Muhammad
**Genealogy of Khadijah's daughters
The children of Muhammad include the three sons and four daughters of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The common view is that all were born to Muhammad's first wife Khadija bint Khuwaylid, except one son, named Ibrahim, who was born to Maria al-Qi ...
*Sahabah
The Companions of the Prophet ( ar, اَلصَّحَابَةُ; ''aṣ-ṣaḥāba'' meaning "the companions", from the verb meaning "accompany", "keep company with", "associate with") were the disciples and followers of Muhammad who saw or m ...
References
External links
Qurayshi family tree
{{authority control
599 births
629 deaths
6th-century Arabs
6th-century women
7th-century women
Women companions of the Prophet
Children of Muhammad
Burials at Jannat al-Baqī