User:1234567/Sandbox 4: Difference between revisions

Zaynab was about twenty years old when her cousin Muhammad declared himself a prophet.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 104.</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. No other family member is on the list of “those who accepted Islam at Abu Bakr’s invitation,”<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 116.</ref> so some other missionary – perhaps Abu Ahmad or Abdullah – must have been responsible for the conversions of Jahsh ibn Riyab and his other children.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 146, 215; {{Tabari|39|180}}.</ref> Zaynab’s mother, Umama, did not become a Muslim.<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 (Bewley/Saad 8:33).</ref> 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.

Zaynab’s single siblings soon married into the small Muslim community. Abdullah married the Hilal widow Zaynab bint Khuzayma, “Mother of the Poor,” although this marriage ended in divorce.<ref></ref> Habibah married the newly divorced<ref></ref> Abdulrahman ibn Awf,<ref></ref> a wealthy merchant<ref></ref> who was related to Muhammad’s mother.<ref></ref> Hamnah married 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<ref></ref> and Ubaydullah,<ref></ref> also became Muslims;<ref></ref> but the lists of early converts do not include anyone who could have plausibly been Zaynab’s husband.