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Zaynab’s grandfather was Riyab ibn Yaamur, a Bedouin from the tribe of Asad ibn Khuzayma.<ref>Note. The Asad ibn Khuzayma tribe should not be confused with the Asad clan of the Quraysh. The latter were a single family who lived in Mecca, i.e., the descendants of Asad ibn Abduluzza, of whom Khadijah was one.</ref> He immigrated to [[Mecca]] and requested an alliance with the Quraysh, apparently because he desired their assistance in a quarrel with the Khuza’a tribe. [[Khadijah bint Khuwaylid|Khadijah’s]] grandfather, Asad ibn Abduluzza, responded “and he gladly joined them as ''hali'' [ally on equal terms].” But the Meccans later told him that Asad’s family were “a wretched branch of the Quraysh”. Riyab then broke this alliance and formed one with the Umayya, who were the most powerful clan in Mecca.<ref>Kister, M. J. (1990). On Strangers and Allies in Mecca. ''Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam, 13'', 113-154.</ref> Hence Riyab’s children and grandchildren were regarded as honorary Umayyads.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:170-172 lists members of Riyab’s clan who lived in Mecca. Some were his biological family but others may have been more loosely attached.</ref> | Zaynab’s grandfather was Riyab ibn Yaamur, a Bedouin from the tribe of Asad ibn Khuzayma.<ref>Note. The Asad ibn Khuzayma tribe should not be confused with the Asad clan of the Quraysh. The latter were a single family who lived in Mecca, i.e., the descendants of Asad ibn Abduluzza, of whom Khadijah was one.</ref> He immigrated to [[Mecca]] and requested an alliance with the Quraysh, apparently because he desired their assistance in a quarrel with the Khuza’a tribe. [[Khadijah bint Khuwaylid|Khadijah’s]] grandfather, Asad ibn Abduluzza, responded “and he gladly joined them as ''hali'' [ally on equal terms].” But the Meccans later told him that Asad’s family were “a wretched branch of the Quraysh”. Riyab then broke this alliance and formed one with the Umayya, who were the most powerful clan in Mecca.<ref>Kister, M. J. (1990). On Strangers and Allies in Mecca. ''Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam, 13'', 113-154.</ref> Hence Riyab’s children and grandchildren were regarded as honorary Umayyads.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:170-172 lists members of Riyab’s clan who lived in Mecca. Some were his biological family but others may have been more loosely attached.</ref> | ||
Riyab’s son Jahsh married Umama (or Umayma) bint Abdulmuttalib, who was Muhammad’s aunt;<ref>Tabari 39:180.</ref> hence their six children were Muhammad’s first cousins. | Riyab’s son Jahsh married Umama (or Umayma) bint Abdulmuttalib, who was Muhammad’s aunt;<ref>Tabari 39:180.</ref> hence their six children were Muhammad’s first cousins. | ||
# '''Abd''' | # '''Abd''' was the eldest son. As an adult he was always known by his ''kunya'' '''Abu Ahmad'''.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 214.</ref> | ||
# '''Abdullah''' was the second son. | # '''Abdullah''' was the second son. | ||
# | # '''Zaynab''' was born c. 590. The birth-order of the daughters is not really known, but Zaynab appears to have been the only one who married before Islam.<ref>Both her sisters married prominent Muslims, suggesting that these marriages occurred after they had all converted to Islam. Zaynab would have been over twenty years old by then, and her husband appears to have remained a pagan, suggesting that they were already married before Islam. Of course, marriage-order is not proof of birth-order.</ref> | ||
# '''Ubaydullah''' (“little Abdullah”) was the third son. | # '''Ubaydullah''' (“little Abdullah”) was the third son. | ||
# '''Habibah''' was also known as '''Umm Habib'''. Both are feminine forms of the masculine ''Habib'' (“beloved”). | # '''Habibah''' was also known as '''Umm Habib'''. Both are feminine forms of the masculine ''Habib'' (“beloved”). | ||
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It is possible that Zaynab remembered Muhammad’s wedding to Khadijah, which took place when she was about five years old.<ref></ref> | It is possible that Zaynab remembered Muhammad’s wedding to Khadijah, which took place when she was about five years old.<ref></ref> | ||
Her eldest brother Abd was born blind. “He used to go all round Mecca from top to bottom without anyone to lead him. He was a poet.”<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 214.</ref> | |||
Abu | |||
The Jahsh family lived under the patronage of Abu Sufyan and were on visiting terms with the best society in Mecca. | |||
When they were teenagers, Ubaydullah came under the influence of the monotheist Zayd ibn Amr.<ref></ref> Zayd was nastily murdered sometime before 610.<ref></ref> | |||
===First Marriage=== | ===First Marriage=== | ||
Zaynab was married in Mecca, but almost nothing is known about her husband.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:72; {{Tabari|39|p. 180}}: “''Zaynab bint Jahsh ... said, 'O Messenger of God, I cannot give my consent, for I am a widow of the Quraysh. | Zaynab’s eldest brother married Abu Sufyan’s daughter Al-Faraa, and Ubaydullah married his daughter Ramlah.<ref></ref> As far as we know, Abu Sufyan did not arrange a marriage for the middle brother Abdullah. | ||
Zaynab was also married in Mecca, but almost nothing is known about her husband.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:72; {{Tabari|39|p. 180}}: “''Zaynab bint Jahsh ... said, 'O Messenger of God, I cannot give my consent, for I am a widow of the Quraysh.’''” Strictly speaking, these words do not even prove ''how many'' husbands Zaynab had already had. It is in theory possible that she was married more than once in Mecca although, to be parsimonious, we shall here assume that there was only one husband.</ref> He was a Quraysh, but probably not from the leading clans of Umayya, Makhzum or even Hashim, since Zaynab’s declaration that he was a Quraysh<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 180}}: "I am the widow of the Quraysh."</ref> was asserted in order to emphasise his high social status; if he had belonged to these prestigious families, she would certainly have mentioned it. But every Quraysh was deemed of higher social status than every other person in Mecca. It is safe to say, however, that Zaynab’s bridegroom was approved, or even chosen, by Abu Sufyan, and that he was a person deemed as a person suitable to marry into the family favoured by the Umayyads.<ref></ref> | |||
Her husband’s anonymity is decidedly strange. All the previous husbands of Muhammad’s other wives are carefully listed in their biographies. The lists include some men who were Muslim heroes, others who were considered enemies of Islam, and others again who were of no great importance. The historians were very obviously not excluding information that was somehow “embarrassing,” so this cannot be the reason why Zaynab’s first husband is missing from the list. It is more likely because, by the time the ''ahadith'' were committed to writing, the information had been lost. If nobody remembered the man’s name, this suggests that Zaynab did not talk about him very much. Perhaps she had loved him so much or hated him so much that she could not bear to speak about him; or perhaps the marriage had been so short-lived, or he had spent so much of it travelling away from home, that he had made very little impression on her. But Zaynab is not the only silent person here. Other people must have known her first husband: her siblings, their numerous Hashimite cousins, their honorary Umayyad kin, their friends who emigrated with them. Yet none of them speaks a word, either good or bad. | |||
We can take two educated guesses about Zaynab’s married life. Firstly, she became a skilled craftswoman. She knew how to tan leather,<ref></ref> dye cloth,<ref></ref> pierce pearls<ref></ref> and make clothes and other household items from textiles and leather.<ref></ref> There is no indication that any other member of the Jahsh family had these skills, and she certainly did not grow up with the economic need to learn a trade. So it is reasonable to infer that Zaynab's first husband was from one of Mecca’s many leather-working families<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 150-151.</ref> and that she learned her skills from them. Since she continued with this work all her life, whether there was an economic need for it or not,<ref></ref> she must have enjoyed it. So the everyday-labour aspect of her first marriage must have been happy. | |||
Secondly, it appears that she had a child. She was occasionally known as ''Umm al-Hakam'',<ref>[http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-1/zainab-bint-djahsh-SIM_6058/ Vacca, V. (2013). “Zainab bint Djahsh" in ''Encyclopaedia of Islam. First Edition (1913-1936)''. Brill Online, 2013. Retrieved 7 March 2013.]: “her ''kunya'' was Umm al-Hakam and her name had been Barra."</ref> which literally means “Mother of the Judge”. There is nothing in her biography that indicates she had any kind of legal expertise or even that she was consulted for her general wisdom. It is therefore most likely that ''Umm al-Hakam'' was not a by-name but a literal ''kunya'' and that Zaynab gave birth to an actual child named Al-Hakam. This child is never otherwise mentioned, so he probably died in infancy. It is unlikely that Zaynab had any further children; she certainly had none who survived and none at all by her subsequent husbands.<ref></ref> Although the reason for her secondary infertility cannot be known, a modern doctor would suspect the Rhesus negative condition. There is further evidence for a hereditary condition of this type in that her sister Habiba was also childless. | |||
===Islam=== | ===Islam=== | ||
Zaynab was about twenty years old when her cousin Muhammad declared himself a prophet.<ref></ref> Another cousin, Abu Salama ibn Abdulasad, was among the earliest converts to Islam.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 116</ref> Her brothers Abu Ahmad and Abdullah came under the influence of Abu Bakr and were converted slightly later, perhaps in 612.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 116.</ref> The other four siblings and their father Riyab are not included in Ibn Ishaq’s list of “those who accepted Islam at Abu Bakr’s invitation,” but they were nevertheless all Muslims by 615.<ref></ref> This suggests that Zaynab was converted<ref>{{Tabari|39|180}}.</ref> under the influence of her brothers. Zaynab’s single siblings soon married into the small Muslim community: Abdullah to the Hilal widow Zaynab bint Khuzayma, “Mother of the Poor”; Habibah to the newly divorced Abdulrahman ibn Awf, a wealthy merchant who was related to Muhammad’s mother; and Hamnah to Masood ibn Umayr, a blue-eyed rich boy from the Abduldar clan. Abu Sufyan’s daughters, the wives of Abu Ahmad and Ubaydullah, also became Muslims;<ref></ref> but the lists of early converts do not include anyone who could have plausibly been | Zaynab was about twenty years old when her cousin Muhammad declared himself a prophet.<ref></ref> Another cousin, Abu Salama ibn Abdulasad, was among the earliest converts to Islam.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 116.</ref> Her brothers Abu Ahmad and Abdullah came under the influence of Abu Bakr and were converted slightly later, perhaps in 612.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 116.</ref> The other four siblings and their father Riyab are not included in Ibn Ishaq’s list of “those who accepted Islam at Abu Bakr’s invitation,” but they were nevertheless all Muslims by 615.<ref></ref> This suggests that Zaynab was converted<ref>{{Tabari|39|180}}.</ref> under the influence of her brothers. | ||
Zaynab’s single siblings soon married into the small Muslim community: Abdullah to the Hilal widow Zaynab bint Khuzayma, “Mother of the Poor”;<ref></ref> Habibah to the newly divorced Abdulrahman ibn Awf, <ref></ref> a wealthy merchant<ref></ref> who was related to Muhammad’s mother;<ref></ref> and Hamnah to Masood ibn Umayr,<ref></ref> a blue-eyed<ref></ref> rich boy<ref></ref> from the Abduldar clan.<ref></ref> Abu Sufyan’s daughters, the wives of Abu Ahmad and Ubaydullah, also became Muslims;<ref></ref> but the lists of early converts do not include anyone who could have plausibly been Zaynab’s husband. While the lists specifically mention those men whose widows later married Muhammad,<ref></ref> there is no such notice about Zaynab, so her husband probably remained a pagan. Her mother Umama did not become a Muslim either.<ref>The biographies of Abdulmuttalib’s six daughters in Bewley/Saad 8:29 state that Safiya, Arwa and Atiqa became Muslims but say nothing about Umm Hakim, Barrah or Umama. {{Tabari|39|p. 198}} explains that Umm Hakim died before Islam; however, Umama was still alive in 628 (REF).</ref> | |||
Hamnah’s two husbands were born in 594 and 595, so she was probably not older than this. Masood died at Uhud in March 625.<ref></ref> She was almost immediately remarried to Talha ibn Ubaydullah.<ref></ref> | |||
After 613 the Quraysh began a campaign of persecuting vulnerable Muslims.<ref></ref> Zaynab’s family was under the protection of Abu Sufyan and therefore the worst that could be done to them was that their businesses were boycotted, though apparently not very systematically.<ref></ref> In 615 Abdullah, Ubaydullah and their two brothers-in-law joined the emigration to Abyssinia.<ref></ref> Zaynab’s father Jahsh also left Mecca, although apparently not as part of the general exile to Abyssinia. As it happened, Jahsh never returned to Mecca. He travelled eastwards to preach Islam to whoever would listen.<ref></ref> It is even claimed that he reached China and that the Muslim residents of western China are descended from his converts.<ref></ref> | |||
Abdullah | Ubaydullah took his wife to Abyssinia with him,<ref>It is not certain that Abdullah was still married; he divorced Zaynab bint Khuzayma at some unknown date (REF).</ref> but Zaynab’s two sisters were left behind. This was apparently because the journey to Abyssinia was deemed a terrible sacrifice and hardship,<ref></ref> and women were not subjected to it if they would be safe in Mecca.<ref>The emigrants included eighty-three men but only eighteen women, all of them married. Many of these men would have been single, but several who are known to have been married did not take their wives to Abyssinia.</ref> It is not entirely clear who was protecting Zaynab and her sisters; but no harm befell them, so perhaps the Quraysh assumed that men were the real problem and did not target women. After most of the persecuted slaves recanted their faith,<ref></ref> the Quraysh declared a trade boycott on Muhammad’s clan;<ref></ref> they showed no interest in the handful of women who had married absent or respectable pagan men. | ||
Ubaydullah remained in Abyssinia until his death in 627.<ref></ref> but Abdullah returned to Mecca in 619.<ref></ref> He must have married Fatima bint Abi Hubaysh soon after his return.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:173.</ref> His choice reflects a certain carelessness towards the Umayyads: Fatima was a member of the Asad clan (her father had been Khadijah’s first cousin)<ref></ref> so Abdullah was reverting to the original alliance that his grandfather had rejected forty years earlier. To emphasise the point, the couple named their son Muhammad.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq shows that the baby was born by the time they left Mecca in 621.</ref> | |||
From mid-620 Muhammad urged the Muslims to emigrate to Medina.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 213.</ref> Zaynab’s brother Abdullah was one of the first to heed this call, probably in early 621. Abu Ahmad’s wife begged to go “anywhere but Medina,” but he told her that Islam was more important than family ties and composed poetry about their argument.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 215-217.</ref> By this time Zaynab was a widow,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 215 lists the people whom Abdullah took with him, but none of them could plausibly have been Zaynab’s spouse. However, the list is not necessarily complete; in particular, it probably does not name all the women.</ref> although there is no information about when or how her husband had died. She was among those who accompanied Abdullah to Medina.<ref>{{Tabari|39|180}}.</ref> | |||
The family | Although it was a large party of at least twenty-eight people, they appear to have left in something of a hurry, for Abdullah was one of only three emigrants who did not liquidise his assets before departing from Mecca.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 230.</ref> He locked up the house, leaving citizens who passed it to sigh over “its doors blowing to and fro, empty of inhabitants” and pontificate that, “''Every house however long its prosperity lasts will one day be overtaken by misfortune and trouble.'' The house of the Jahsh clan has become tenantless.” Abu Jahl said, “Nobody will weep over that. This is the work of this man’s nephew [Muhammad]. He has divided our community, disrupted our affairs, and driven a wedge between us.”<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 214-215.</ref> When the Meccans were certain that the Jahsh clan would not return, Abu Sufyan took possession of their house and sold it to pay off his own debts.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 230.</ref> Abdullah was angry about this, saying that his family had chosen to ally with Abu Sufyan when they had received plenty of good offers from other Quraysh families.<ref>Kister (1990).</ref> He asked Muhammad for justice; but Muhammad, busy in Medina and powerless to act in Mecca, told him to be content that Allah would give him a better house in Paradise.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 230.</ref>. Abu Sufyan’s side of the story does not survive, but there is some evidence that he had in fact been acting within his rights. Eight years later, when Muhammad conquered Mecca and could have easily commandeered any building that he wanted, Abu Ahmed again asked him to retrieve their house, but Muhammad ignored him. Other people told him, “You lost your house in Allah’s service, so don’t ask the Apostle about it again.” This lack of sympathy for the Jahsh family’s case suggests that Abu Sufyan had only lent, leased or given them the property on the understanding that they were his allies. By abandoning the house in order to ally so openly with Muhammad, who had declared war on Mecca,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 208.</ref> Abdullah had snubbed Abu Sufyan’s forty years of friendship and forfeited his protection. It seemed that nobody, including even the Muslims, disputed Abu Sufyan’s right to repossess a house that had probably belonged to him originally. All Abu Ahmad could do about it was to write another poem, along the lines of: “''I swear Abu Sufyan will regret this; may his theft stick to him like the ring of a dove…''”.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 230.</ref> | ||
Muhammad | The family settled in Medina. Zaynab probably lived with one of her brothers. Hamnah bore a daughter<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:170.</ref> but Habibah remained childless.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:171.</ref> Muhammad did not arrive until September 622, more than a year later.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 227, 281.</ref> He built the mosque;<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 230.</ref> he debated with the Jews;<ref>These debates are described in detail in Guillaume/Ishaq 239-270.</ref> and he raided the merchant-caravans of the Meccans, the raid under Abdullah’s leadership being the first in which a Muslim killed a Meccan and succeeded in stealing the merchandise.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 286-289.</ref> | ||
===Second Marriage=== | ===Second Marriage=== | ||
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At some stage, it is said, Zaynab proposed herself to Muhammad as a wife and offered not to take any dower.<ref>It is Ibn Hisham (note 918) who qualifies this story with the term “it is said.” In the light of what follows, however, it seems highly likely that the story is true.</ref> Muhammad declined this invitation. Early in 625 he visited Abdullah saying he had a marriage proposal for Zaynab.<ref>Al-Jalalayn, ''Tafsir'' on Q33:36-38.</ref> Because of the uncertain chronology, it is not clear whether this was the occasion when Zaynab offered herself to Muhammad dower-free or whether this visit occurred later and Zaynab assumed he had changed his mind. Either way, she and her brother thought at first that Muhammad now wanted to marry her.<ref>Al-Jalalayn, ''Tafsir'' on Q33:36-38: “… Zaynab, whose hand the Prophet had asked for in marriage … they had thought that the Prophet wanted to marry her himself.”</ref> | At some stage, it is said, Zaynab proposed herself to Muhammad as a wife and offered not to take any dower.<ref>It is Ibn Hisham (note 918) who qualifies this story with the term “it is said.” In the light of what follows, however, it seems highly likely that the story is true.</ref> Muhammad declined this invitation. Early in 625 he visited Abdullah saying he had a marriage proposal for Zaynab.<ref>Al-Jalalayn, ''Tafsir'' on Q33:36-38.</ref> Because of the uncertain chronology, it is not clear whether this was the occasion when Zaynab offered herself to Muhammad dower-free or whether this visit occurred later and Zaynab assumed he had changed his mind. Either way, she and her brother thought at first that Muhammad now wanted to marry her.<ref>Al-Jalalayn, ''Tafsir'' on Q33:36-38: “… Zaynab, whose hand the Prophet had asked for in marriage … they had thought that the Prophet wanted to marry her himself.”</ref> | ||
They were displeased to discover that Muhammad was not proposing on his own behalf at all. | They were displeased to discover that Muhammad was not proposing on his own behalf at all. While he was in fact planning to marry, his choice had fallen on Hafsah bint Umar,<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 174}}.</ref> who was less beautiful than Zaynab<ref>Unlike Zaynab, Hafsa is never described as “beautiful,” and nor is it ever claimed that she was the reverse.</ref> but better educated<ref>Baladhuri, ''Conquest of the Lands'', cited in [http://english.sahartv.ir/media/pdf/The%20Unschooled%20Prophet.pdf/ Mutahhari, S. A. M. ''The Unschooled Prophet''. Tehran: Islamic Propagation Organization.] “"Hafsah, the wife of the Prophet (SA), could write … `A'ishah (the wife of the Prophet) could read but not write, and Umm Salamah stood in a similar condition."” By implication, no other wife of Muhammad could even read.</ref> and some fifteen years younger.<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 174}}.</ref> Shortly afterwards, he also married Zaynab bint Khuzaymah,<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:82.</ref> and he then ruled that four wives were the maximum allowed.<ref>{{Quran|4|3}}. See also [http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=718&Itemid=59/ Ibn Kathir, ''Tafsir'' on Q4:3].</ref> Muhammad could not have rejected Zaynab more thoroughly. His proposal was that she should marry his adopted son Zayd.<ref>Al-Jalalayn, ''Tafsir'' on Q33:36-38: “… Zaynab, whose hand the Prophet had asked for in marriage, but meaning on behalf of Zayd ibn Haritha. They were loathe to this when they found out.”</ref> | ||
====Zayd’s Background==== | ====Zayd’s Background==== | ||
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Zaynab was the first of Muhammad’s official<ref>Muhammad’s concubine, Mariya bint Shamoon, had died first of all in 637.</ref> widows to die, so his guess about the future had been wrong. The surviving wives then rationalised that “it was the hand of Zaynab that was the longest, because she used to work by hand and give away (what she earned) in charity.” The Messenger of Allah said to Omar, “Zaynab bint Jahsh is one who is full of prayer.” A man said, “Messenger of Allah, what is that?” He said, “The one who is humble and earnest in prayer.” Ayesha also said that Zaynab, “I have never seen a woman so pure as Zaynab, so God-fearing, so truthful, so attentive to family ties, so generous, so self-sacrificing in everyday life, so charitable, and thus so close to Allah, the Exalted.” | Zaynab was the first of Muhammad’s official<ref>Muhammad’s concubine, Mariya bint Shamoon, had died first of all in 637.</ref> widows to die, so his guess about the future had been wrong. The surviving wives then rationalised that “it was the hand of Zaynab that was the longest, because she used to work by hand and give away (what she earned) in charity.” The Messenger of Allah said to Omar, “Zaynab bint Jahsh is one who is full of prayer.” A man said, “Messenger of Allah, what is that?” He said, “The one who is humble and earnest in prayer.” Ayesha also said that Zaynab, “I have never seen a woman so pure as Zaynab, so God-fearing, so truthful, so attentive to family ties, so generous, so self-sacrificing in everyday life, so charitable, and thus so close to Allah, the Exalted.” | ||
===See Also=== | |||
''When you said to him whom Allah had blessed and you had favoured, ‘Keep your wife to yourself, and fear Allah,’ and you were concealing within yourself what Allah should reveal, fearing other men; and Allah has better right for you to fear him. So when Zayd had accomplished what he would of her, then We gave her in marriage to you, so that there should not be any fault in the believers, touching the wives of their adopted sons, when they have accomplished what they would of them; and Allah’s commandment must be performed. There is no fault in the prophet, touching what Allah had ordained for him.”<ref>{{Quran-range|33|36-38}}.</ref> | ''When you said to him whom Allah had blessed and you had favoured, ‘Keep your wife to yourself, and fear Allah,’ and you were concealing within yourself what Allah should reveal, fearing other men; and Allah has better right for you to fear him. So when Zayd had accomplished what he would of her, then We gave her in marriage to you, so that there should not be any fault in the believers, touching the wives of their adopted sons, when they have accomplished what they would of them; and Allah’s commandment must be performed. There is no fault in the prophet, touching what Allah had ordained for him.”<ref>{{Quran-range|33|36-38}}.</ref> | ||
{{Quote|[http://www.a2youth.com/ebooks/the_wives_of_the_prophet/zainab_bint_jahash/ Thompson, A. (DATE). “Zainab bint Jahash” in ''The Wives of the Prophet''. London: Ta-Ha Publishers.|The marriage, however, was not a success. Although both Zaynab and Zayd were the best of people, who loved Allah and His Messenger, they were very different and in the end they could not overcome their incompatibility. Zayd asked the Prophet’s permission to divorce Zaynab more than once, and although he was counselled to hold onto his wife and to fear Allah, in the end the divorce took place. The Prophet then was ordered by Allah to marry Zaynab bint Jahsh, while he did in 5 AH, when he was 58 years old, and she was 35 years old. In doing so, he demonstrated beyond doubt that in Islam an adopted son is not regarded in the same light as a natural son, and that although a father may never marry a woman whom his natural son has married and then divorced, the father of an adopted son is permitted to marry a woman who was once, but is no longer, married to that adopted son. Furthermore, by marrying Zaynab, the Prophet also confirmed that it is permissible for cousins to marry, and , at the same time, Zaynab was given her heart’s desire to be married to the Best of Creation.}} | {{Quote|[http://www.a2youth.com/ebooks/the_wives_of_the_prophet/zainab_bint_jahash/ Thompson, A. (DATE). “Zainab bint Jahash” in ''The Wives of the Prophet''. London: Ta-Ha Publishers.|The marriage, however, was not a success. Although both Zaynab and Zayd were the best of people, who loved Allah and His Messenger, they were very different and in the end they could not overcome their incompatibility. Zayd asked the Prophet’s permission to divorce Zaynab more than once, and although he was counselled to hold onto his wife and to fear Allah, in the end the divorce took place. The Prophet then was ordered by Allah to marry Zaynab bint Jahsh, while he did in 5 AH, when he was 58 years old, and she was 35 years old. In doing so, he demonstrated beyond doubt that in Islam an adopted son is not regarded in the same light as a natural son, and that although a father may never marry a woman whom his natural son has married and then divorced, the father of an adopted son is permitted to marry a woman who was once, but is no longer, married to that adopted son. Furthermore, by marrying Zaynab, the Prophet also confirmed that it is permissible for cousins to marry, and , at the same time, Zaynab was given her heart’s desire to be married to the Best of Creation.}} | ||
===References=== | ===References=== | ||
{{reflist}} | {{reflist}} | ||