The Firsts (Sahaba Stories) | The Forerunners of Islam
21 / 152
44
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Khawla Bint Hakim & Uthman Ibn Madhun: The Righteous Couple | The Firsts
52
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Al-Shifa bint Abdullah (ra): The Healer and Scholar | The Firsts Shorts
58
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Shurahbil Ibn Hasana (ra): The Scribe and Commander | The Firsts Shorts
125
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Khalid ibn al-Walid (ra): The Legendary Military General | The Firsts
126
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Amr ibn al-As (ra): His Wicked Father and “Better” Brother | The Firsts
146
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Tulayha ibn Khuwaylid (ra): From False Prophet to Shaheed | The Firsts
147
Life of the Prophet (seerah)
Zayd ibn al-Khattab (ra): The Quiet Brother of Omar (ra) | The Firsts
Zaynab Bint Muhammad (saw): The First Daughter (ra)
The first daughter of the Prophet (saw) and Khadijah (ra), Zaynab (ra) would spend almost 2 decades in a marriage of constant limbo because she chose to believe.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Everyone, Bismillah walhamdulillah, wa salatu wassalamu ala rasulullah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala. So last week, alhamdulillah, we covered Lubaba radiAllahu ta'ala anha, who is a woman that very few people seem to have known about, or at least, you know, known her extent. The extent to which she supported the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam and the way that the seerah connects through the aunt of the ummah in Lubaba radiAllahu ta'ala anha. And I always love that subhanAllah, people either start to name their children after some of these sahaba and sahabiyaat that are not very well known, or they take deeper pride inshaAllah ta'ala in the names that are well known amongst the sahaba and the female companions of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam as well. So it was nice to see all the Lubabas come out last week to talk about how the name meant so much to them now. And inshaAllah ta'ala we keep this alive in our tradition to name our children after the companions of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam and to set that standard that this is who you live up to. The next person that we're going to talk about is named Zaynab radiAllahu ta'ala anha, but she's not the Zaynab that we typically speak about. This is Zaynab bint RasulAllah salallahu alaihi wasalam, Zaynab al-Kubra, the daughter of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam, the oldest daughter of RasulAllah salallahu alaihi wasalam and Khadija radiAllahu ta'ala anha. And subhanAllah her story is one that is laced with a lot of pain, and it offers another unique dimension to some of the complications of becoming Muslim when the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam first started his prophetic call. We talked about people that had the complications of not having any tribal protection, we talked about people that had the complications of being heads of tribes,
we talked about people that had the complications of some pre-existing contracts in jahiliyya, in the days of ignorance. Zaynab radiAllahu ta'ala anha through her story we see an entirely different lens. So let's first talk about her and her age. The Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam had her when he was about 30 years old alayhi salatu wasalam. And he used to love her a lot and he used to praise her a lot as is narrated in the books of Siyam. So he loved her of course being his eldest, and he also salallahu alaihi wasalam used to praise her characteristics, her traits. She has a very unique personality as they all do, may Allah be pleased with them all. So he loves her intensely, he praises her intensely, and she's the oldest in the house. She is the helper of her mother Khadija radiAllahu ta'ala anha. She is the mentor to her younger sisters Ruqayya, Um Kulthum, and Fatima may Allah be pleased with them all. So she takes on that title of being the oldest child of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam. And all that comes with that, with her relationship with the Prophet alayhi salatu wasalam and Khadija radiAllahu ta'ala anha. Now she got married very young, and again when you're talking about ages of people getting married back then, a 10 year old at that time is not the same as a 10 year old today, a 15 year old at that time is not the same as a 15 year old today. And so it's very common to find people getting married at these very young ages. And so we learn about Zainab radiAllahu ta'ala anha is that when the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam received revelation, she was a newlywed to Abu al-As ibn al-Rabee' And when the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam received revelation, there was going to be a complication in her marriage. Now the only daughter of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam that was not married or engaged was Fatima radiAllahu ta'ala anha, because she comes afterwards, she's born after all of this.
But when we talk about Ruqayya and Um Kulthum, they were engaged to the two sons of Abu Lahab. And Abu Lahab ordered his two sons to divorce Ruqayya and Um Kulthum to cause harm to the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam. And so you have Zainab radiAllahu ta'ala anha who's actually a newlywed who is with her husband when Islam comes. And her husband was a good man. And not only that, there was a family connection to this as well. So he is Abu al-As ibn al-Rabee' ibn Abdul Uzza. His father is al-Rabee' ibn Abdul Uzza. His mother is the famous Hala ibn Khuwaylid radiAllahu anha, the sister of our mother Khadija ibn Khuwaylid radiAllahu ta'ala anha. The famous sister of Khadija who in Medina after the death of Khadija radiAllahu anha when the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam would hear her voice, he would say Allahumma Hala, O Allah let it be Hala. Because Hala used to resemble Khadija radiAllahu ta'ala anha in her appearance, in her presence. And so when the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam would hear her, when he would see her, he would remember Khadija radiAllahu ta'ala anha. So that's actually the mother of Abu al-As ibn al-Rabee' So Khadija radiAllahu anha is of course his maternal aunt in that sense. And Zaynab radiAllahu ta'ala anha is his cousin which of course is very common at the time especially. So when he marries Khadija, I'm sorry, when he marries Zaynab radiAllahu ta'ala anha, he gives her, or rather Khadija radiAllahu ta'ala anha gives to Zaynab radiAllahu ta'ala anha this special beautiful necklace. And so the gift of Khadija to her daughter Zaynab upon marrying Abu al-As ibn al-Rabee' is this very special necklace behind which there's a beautiful story which we will get to inshAllah ta'ala shortly.
And as this marriage is just starting, Abu al-As was on a trade route when the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam declared his Islam. And Abu al-As was similar to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam in that he was a merchant and he used to go to Ash-Sham, he used to go to Syria, and he was known for his honesty and his truthfulness. And the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam loved his character because he had many of the traits that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam was beloved to the people for. So Abu al-As is away when the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam receives revelation. Zaynab radiAllahu ta'ala anha is amongst the first to accept Islam. Now the story of her Islam is not known to us. We don't know or we don't have an incident that actually traces when she actually embraced Islam officially the way that we do with Ali radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and some of the others that are around the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. But she's considered amongst the first ten to embrace Islam, you know, of course, through her father salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. So Abu al-As comes back from Ash-Sham or from one of his journeys and he, you know, he's hearing about the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam's message. He's hearing about all of these things happening. And then he also gets the news that Zaynab radiAllahu ta'ala anha while he was away already has accepted the religion of her father salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and also the religion of her mother Khadija radiAllahu ta'ala anha. Now Abu al-As is in an interesting situation. Okay. As we said Abu Lahab made his two sons divorce the two daughters of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, break off the engagement with the daughters of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. Abu al-As is also getting pressure when he gets back to let go of Zaynab radiAllahu ta'ala anha because she has become Muslim. And Abu al-As is in a really, is an interesting situation. He does not want his tribe, this is one of the diseases of tribalism, right?
I mean it's not all just arrogance and we're going to kill the person from the other tribe. It's also, you know, what are people going to say? So he does not want people to say that he accepted Islam just because of his wife. And at the same time he loves his wife so he doesn't want to get rid of her. Now at this time, you know, the marriage of a mu'min to a mushrik is not forbidden, right? I mean so this is still early on in the days of Islam and it is the norm at that time, right? That you're seeing one person become Muslim before the other and things of that sort. And Abu al-As resists the pressure to divorce Zaynab. And the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, he actually appreciates that about Abu al-As. That he shows some level of nobility in not succumbing to the pressure to divorce Zaynab radiAllahu ta'ala anha. So he stays with Zaynab radiAllahu ta'ala anha and he also, you know, continues upon his way. Now he knew that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam was special. He has been around the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. He's been around Khadijah radiAllahu anha. He knows that these are special people. He knows that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam is as-sadiq al-ameen. But what is causing him to resist is the fact that or the sayings of the people if he goes along with this. That he only did this. That he forsaked the religion of his father for the sake of his wife. And he did not want to do that. And so he stayed upon his ways. Zaynab radiAllahu ta'ala anha was a believer. She was a believing woman. She stayed upon the way of her father salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and Khadijah radiAllahu ta'ala anha. So you actually have a situation here where Zaynab radiAllahu ta'ala anha gives birth through Abu al-As ibn al-Rabee' at this time. So she has two children from him.
Her first child is actually Ali. Not Ali ibn Abi Talib but the Ali or not the Ali ibn Abi Talib radiAllahu ta'ala anhu but Ali. The son of Abu al-As and of Zaynab. But he died very early and the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam was grieved by that. Her second child is the famous Umama radiAllahu ta'ala anha. And Umama the granddaughter of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. You often find her in the narrations just like you see at Hasan wa Hussain. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam holding her, carrying her, loving her. This was his granddaughter that would grow up in his shade salAllahu alayhi wa sallam in Medina for some time. So these are the two children that they had together. And they lived in this awkward peculiar situation. What helps Abu al-As is that he's not the political type. He's not entrusted with any tribe. In the sense he's not expected to lead anything against the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. Nor does he really get involved in these affairs. He's really a merchant. He's a businessman. And he loves his family. And he loves his tribe. So he's just trying to balance all of these elements out while the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam continues forward. Now of course there's a defining moment where this is not going to hold up anymore. And that is when the hijrah comes. Where is Zainab radiAllahu ta'ala anha going to go when the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam now leaves Mecca? It's one thing when you're caught in this situation where your father is the persecuted. And your husband is on the side of the persecutors in the sense that not that he approves of the persecution of RasulAllah salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. But that he is insisting upon his ways. It's another thing when your father alayhi salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and your mother who has passed away of course. Your father is going to go to Madinah now to make hijrah. So there's some narrations about her wanting to do hijrah. Or when the time comes to do hijrah.
Obviously there's resistance from the tribe of Abu al-As ibn Rabee' There are children involved here. You don't just go and leave your husband. And Abu al-As is not ready to become Muslim. He does not want to make the hijrah with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. So Zainab is put in a very tough situation. Does she go with her daughter along with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and leave her husband behind? Or does she stay in Mecca and wait for something to happen? And the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam gave her permission to stay back so that her family would not be separated. So she actually stays back in Mecca. SubhanAllah think about how painful that was for the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. Who lost his wife Khadija radiAllahu anha who is now buried in Mecca. And now is leaving behind his eldest daughter in Zainab radiAllahu anha in Mecca as well. And having to make hijrah. There's pain on the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam side and obviously pain with Zainab radiAllahu anha not being able to be with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and the community of the believers as they have made their hijrah to Medina. So this is an interesting component right? Because like Lubaba, like Umm al-Fadl radiAllahu anha who we spoke about last week. Zainab is one of those practicing women in Mecca. And this is an interesting situation if you think about how much iman, how much faith you have to have to sustain yourself in Mecca after the hijrah, before the fatih, before the conquest of Mecca. Right? And to still be upon Islam in the way that these women were upon Islam. May Allah subhanAllah be pleased with them all. So the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam makes his hijrah. Zainab radiAllahu anha stays behind with her husband Abu al-As. And then Badr comes. And unfortunately just like al-Abbas radiAllahu anhu, Ukhriju karha la haajata lahum fee qitalina There are some people on the side of the Meccans that were put out there but they really don't have any interest in killing us. They're not there to fight us. They're just forced by their tribes.
Just like that here you have Abu al-As going out on the day of Badr subhanAllah to fight his actual father-in-law, the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. To fight against the side of his actual father-in-law. You can think about how heartbreaking this is for Zainab radiAllahu anha. My husband is going out to fight my father, the messenger of Allah salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. And these are the complications of these early days of al-Islam. So he goes out on the day of Badr not because he wants to but because he's forced to. And you know with al-Abbas radiAllahu anhu we actually see the narrations about how he never lifted his hand. He was waiting to be captured and taken by the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. He was not going to kill anyone. We don't have those narrations but it could be an assumption that we make about Abu al-As as well. That he was not out there swinging his sword and trying to kill the Muslims but was taken as a captive relatively early within the battle. So in the battle of Badr who captures him? Abdullah ibn Jubair, not Zubair, Abdullah ibn Jubair who is famous in the battle of Uhud for being the one who headed the group of archers that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam commanded to stand on the mountain of Rumah. So if you ever go to visit Uhud and you see the mountain, the hill where the archers stood, Abdullah ibn Jubair is the famous leader radiAllahu anhu of that group of people who of course would pass away as a shaheed on the day of Uhud. However here on the day of Badr, he was the one that would capture al-As ibn Rabir. So here you have the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam looking towards his uncle amongst the prisoners looking towards as well his son-in-law amongst the prisoners of battle and we know the exemplary treatment that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam gave to those people.
So they're there and the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam says, Ahsinoo ila al-asra, treat your prisoners well. Zaynab radiAllahu ta'ala anha is not like Lubaba, Umm al-Fadl where in Mecca when she gets the news she's going to crack a pole upside the head of Abu Lahab and take out Abu Lahab for the way that he acted. Zaynab radiAllahu ta'ala anha is actually being blamed. She's dealing with the pain of separation now. Her husband being a captive now of her father alayhi salatu wassalam and the people in Mecca are blaming her and saying all of this is because of your father. Her in-laws, the family of Abu al-As are saying all of this is because of you and your father. So she has to prove her loyalties constantly here subhanAllah. I mean this is a hard situation for her to be in. What does she do? She takes the most precious thing in the world to her which was the necklace that Khadija radiAllahu ta'ala anha gave to her on the night of her wedding. And she puts it in a bag and she sends it with Amr ibn Rabi' the brother of Abu al-As and she says take this to my father and ask him to ransom my husband with this special money or this special wealth that I'm sending towards him. So subhanAllah the prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam is there and obviously the prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam was making all sorts of concessions to free the prisoners in the battle of Badr, right? Story after story after story of how the prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam was making concessions to free the prisoners in Badr. But while the prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam is there and Abu al-As is there the prophet salAllahu alaihi wasalam also is not showing favoritism to his family. his family, so he's not going to show more leniency to his family because that would undermine, alayhi salatu was salam, his justice and the fairness that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam was preaching.
So anything the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam did for his family members, he did it for everybody else as well. So with Abu al-As, he is there in Badr, and a bag comes to him and he's told that this is the ransom of Abu al-As from your daughter Zainab. And when he receives the bag, alayhi salatu was salam, you know, he assumes it could be money, could be some gold or something of that sort. But he opens up that bag and he pulls out that necklace and the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam could not hold back his tears. He started to weep, alayhi salatu was salam, looking at that necklace, remembering Khadijah radiAllahu ta'ala anha. Right, and I know we talked about this with Khadijah radiAllahu anha, but you can never talk enough about Sayyida Khadijah radiAllahu ta'ala anha. He's looking at that necklace and he's remembering Khadijah radiAllahu ta'ala anha as he's looking at that necklace and the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam is weeping and weeping, and the Sahaba don't know why the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam is weeping. So the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam says to them, do you know what this is? They say no, and he says that this is the necklace that Khadijah radiAllahu anha gave to Zainab radiAllahu anha on the night of her wedding, and the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, after he cried for a while, he says, in chi'tum atlaqtum laha aseeraha waradattum ilayha qiladataha He said, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, if you will, then free her prisoner, ransom her prisoner, and also take the necklace back to her. Give her back the necklace, subhanAllah. So if you, obviously the rule here is that the ransom comes in and then the prisoners go, but the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam is saying, free him, and if you will, send back the necklace to her as well, knowing what that necklace is and what the story is. And subhanAllah, the amazing thing here is that she only wanted her husband, she didn't ask for the necklace back, but the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, from his heart and from his compassion, from his love, alayhi salatu wasalam, he sent the necklace back.
So, there was one condition though, or not necessarily a condition for his freedom, but there was something that comes about from Badr as well now. The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, this time, tells Abu al-As that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has ordered the separation of the believers from the mushrikeen, in terms of the marital relationships, and since you are not, you know, since you have not become Muslim, that you have to be separated now. And so the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam asked for Zaynab radiAllahu anha to be sent now, back to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. Back with him to Medina. Badr is actually, you know, on the outskirts, it's closer to Mecca than it is to Medina. It's on the way between the two, in older routes. But you know, so we're not talking about like Uhud, where this is actually in Medina, right? It's closer towards Mecca than it actually is, or I'm sorry, it's not closer to Mecca than it is to Medina, but it's between Mecca and Medina. Okay, it's actually closer to Medina, geographically. But the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam is asking now for Zaynab radiAllahu anha to come back to Medina with him. And you know, when Abu al-As goes back, he honors that request from the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. This time Zaynab radiAllahu anha will go and will join the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam in Medina. And there was a skirmish of sorts that happened with the tribe of Abu al-As. Some of the historians say that this is actually where Zaynab had a miscarriage, that she was pregnant and she had a miscarriage, and the complications of that would stay with her for years. So, SubhanAllah, she comes to Medina. Zaynab comes to Medina radiAllahu anha with her father RasulAllahu SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, and now she's separated from her husband, who she loves very much. I mean, you think about the pain here and the dynamics and the way that these dynamics continue to shift regarding Zaynab radiAllahu anha and her husband Abu al-As. So Zaynab is there in Medina, and the beauty of this is, as we said, Umama will grow up
under the shade of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. So her daughter grows up with the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. Zaynab radiAllahu anha stays in Medina. She's with her father and the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam loves Zaynab radiAllahu anha much. She's a piece of Khadijah radiAllahu anha as well. And Zaynab refuses to remarry. Not just for one or two years. She refuses to remarry for six years. She's not going to marry anyone other than Abu al-As, even though she doesn't see her husband. She's holding out hope that one day her husband will become Muslim and he'll join the companions in Medina in the presence of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and her family will be reunited. So sometimes these things are forced in interesting ways. They don't happen in the easier ways. A few years after, so we said about six years later, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam had heard of a caravan of the Meccans that was traveling between Mecca and Ash-Sham. And of course this was something that used to happen where the battles with the caravans in regards to the caravans because of all that was taken from the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. And this is not the time of treaty, right? So there are back and forths and these things that happen when you intercept caravans at the time. So the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam hears about this caravan going from Mecca to Ash-Sham and he sends a group of companions under Zayd ibn Haritha radiAllahu ta'ala Anhum to go and to intercept that caravan. They go and they intercept that caravan and guess who's amongst them? Abu al-As. So Abu al-As who was taken as a prisoner in Badr and freed with the necklace of Khadija radiAllahu Anha. And then his wife was now in Medina waiting for years for her husband to be brought back to her. Abu al-As is brought back to Medina once again as a prisoner. And his goods taken away from him. And obviously the way that this would take place, the way that this would unfold was
that there was a ransom process, right? Now Zayd ibn RadiAllahu Anha hears about Abu al-As being amongst the group of prisoners. And you can imagine her emotions in this regard as well as the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. Abu al-As manages to get to her in the middle of the night before Salat al-Fajr and Zaynab radiAllahu ta'ala Anha says, have you become Muslim? He says, no I'm a fugitive. And Zaynab radiAllahu ta'ala Anha, she asks him to become Muslim and he's still not ready to become Muslim at that point. So what does Zaynab do? Zaynab radiAllahu ta'ala Anha waits until Salat al-Fajr. So imagine you're in the masjid of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, Salat al-Fajr is taking place. The messenger of Allah Alayhi Salatu Wasallam finishes Fajr and he turns around, the companions are there, they just finished Salat al-Fajr and Zaynab comes out, not telling the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and she shouts out that I have freed Abu al-As ibn al-Rabee' and he's under my protection. So the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam just prayed in the masjid of Medina and Zaynab is coming once again, she's saying I have freed my husband, she's not calling him her husband but I have freed Abu al-As ibn al-Rabee' and he's under my protection. The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, he looks at the companions who are obviously in shock with the scene that just unfolded here. And the messenger of Allah SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam says, did you hear what I heard? And they said yes, Ya Rasulullah, we heard what you heard. We saw that, we heard what you heard and we saw what you saw. And the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, he said that wallahi, he swore in the one in whose hand is the soul of Muhammad SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, he said I had no idea about this before hearing just like you heard. So the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam is saying look, if you think that this was something and of course, why would they question the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam but
he's assuring them, he's saying that's the first that I heard of it, just like you, right? Like what just happened over here. And the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam mentioned that Abu Al-As was an honest man, he was never really someone who showed enmity towards the Muslims or was not known for his nobility. But the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, he says look, he says if you accept what Zaynab said, he said that I'll return his money back and I'll let him go and I'll free her prisoner. But the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam was asking them as if he's taking shura and this was the habit of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam to show fairness, right? Consultation. And he said, Ya Rasulullah, we have freed the one who you have freed, right? It's okay, we understand. Go ahead and free him, we freed the one that you have freed. So the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam goes to Zaynab radiAllahu ta'ala Anha and he says, Ya Zaynab, we have freed the one that you have freed and Zaynab asked for his possessions to be given back to him and his possessions were given back to him. And he told Zaynab, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam told Zaynab radiAllahu ta'ala Anha that look, you know, and he knows the emotions that she has, this is the father of her children, but not her husband anymore, right? So he says to her, listen, don't let him touch you in that way because he's prohibited for you as long as he's a mushrik. He's still not willing to embrace Islam. So Zaynab radiAllahu ta'ala Anha, she agrees to that condition and she tells her husband, she once again prompts her husband to embrace Islam and to join his family and to join the companionship of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and the community in Al-Madinah. And when she does that, Abu al-Asr is afraid once again, he doesn't want people to say that now he became Muslim just because he was a captive. So Abu al-Asr, what does he do? He also says that, look, I owe people in Mecca money and I don't want them to say that he
just resided in Madinah and escaped to Madinah without paying back our money. So this whole becoming Muslim thing was just a way for him to save himself from his debts. So Abu al-Asr returns to Mecca. Alright, Zaynab has seen the father of her children after all these years and he returns to Mecca and he pays back all of the amanat, all of the debts. Sound familiar? The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, even as they were running him out, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam entrusted Ali radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu to pay back all of the amanat, all of the trusts. Here Abu al-Asr says, I want to go back and I want to pay all of these trusts off. So he returns all of the money back. And he asks the people of Mecca, he says, is there anything left? They said, nothing is left. He said, okay, in that case, ashhadu an la ilaha illallah wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan rasool Allah. He becomes a Muslim, makes his way back to Madinah, escapes back to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, this time finally coming to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam not as a prisoner, but as a son-in-law who is ready to embrace Islam. And he tells the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, ashhadu an la ilaha illallah wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan rasool Allah. I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and that you are the messenger of Allah. And the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam of course was full of joy. You're talking about almost two decades of waiting for this moment, for this man to come back and to become Muslim. And to finally leave behind the image or the illusion of these tribal alliances that held him back from the truth and held him back from his family. But now he's become Muslim. So what do you think the first thing he's going to ask for after he becomes Muslim is? He says, ya rasool Allah, can I go back to Zainab now? Do I get my wife back now? I mean, she has held herself, subhanAllah, for six years waiting for Abu al-As to come back to her in some way. So the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam was of course full of joy with this.
He takes Abu al-As to Zainab and he says to Zainab that, you know, he's come to me and he's asked if he can return to you. And subhanAllah, 20 years later, 20 years later, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam reunites or 20 years from the moment of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam's, you know, proclaiming prophethood. He reunites Zainab radiAllahu ta'ala anha and Abu al-As ibn al-Rabi' radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And there is a difference of opinion if it was on the stronger one being it was on his first nikah. So the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam actually extended the validity once he became Muslim despite the lapse that had taken time then. And Allah knows best. That's a longer discussion. This is Muharram in the seventh year after hijrah. Muharram in the seventh year after hijrah. SubhanAllah, this is a lot, you know, these people's lives were, you know, especially when you think about Zainab radiAllahu anha, the difficulties, imagine how happy she is now. This is the life that she was waiting for. Right. Even though her mother Khadijah radiAllahu anha has gone, now she finally has her husband and she has her kids. And there they are in the presence of her beloved one, her father and her Prophet alaihi salatu wassalam, her daughter Umama is in the shade of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. Abu al-As was already a noble man radiAllahu anhu and now he's a Muslim. What could go wrong here? SubhanAllah, it was not even a full year except that Zainab radiAllahu anha would die. So waiting all of this time, all of this time, you know, you're talking about two decades of this turmoil. And finally, once they are united in this world, Abu al-As has finally left behind Mecca. Zainab radiAllahu anha passes away and the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasalam was devastated. Abu al-As was devastated. The entire family of the Messenger SallAllahu alaihi wasalam was devastated. Right.
I mean, this is this came at a time that really struck the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasalam in a very deep way, as well as Abu al-As, considering the circumstances of that time. So this is where we find now that, you know, you find the narrations of Abu al-As crying profusely. You find the narrations of the Messenger of Allah SallAllahu alaihi wasalam crying profusely over what has taken place. You're seeing all of these these narrations of the people of the family of the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasalam, you know, devastated by what has taken place. And the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasalam goes to a group of women at the head of them, Um Ayman Baraka radiAllahu ta'ala Anha, who, of course, we've spoken about early on. Sauda radiAllahu anha, Um Salama radiAllahu ta'ala anha, and Um Atiyah radiAllahu ta'ala anha. So he goes to this group of women and he says to them, he says to them to wash her body with water and with some some camphor and to wash her an odd number of times, three or five or seven times. And the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasalam said, once you finished washing her body, let me know. Allow me to come in to join her. So they took the body of Zainab radiAllahu ta'ala anha. They finished washing her body and then they informed the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasalam and the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasalam came in and he, you know, obviously he's looking he's crying and he, you know, he cried radiAllahu ta'ala anha, losing his daughter. This was the love of a father for his daughter. And not only that, but the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasalam took his izar, he took his waist wrap and he told them to shroud Zainab radiAllahu anha in his own waist wrap radi his salatu wasalam. So they shrouded Zainab radiAllahu ta'ala anha in the izar of the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasalam, in the waist wrap of the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasalam. And then Um Atiyah says, we then combed her hair and we put it into three braids and put
it behind her and then proceeded with the funeral prayers. And the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasalam, he led the janaza of his daughter Zainab radiAllahu ta'ala anha there in Al-Madinah, in Al-Baqi' the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasalam went into the grave of Zainab as he had gone into the grave of Khadija radiAllahu ta'ala anha, her mother and received the body of Zainab radiAllahu ta'ala anha and was comforting Abu al-As, you know, and of course his granddaughter Umama who were devastated by the loss of this wonderful woman, Abu al-As, the wife that he had been separated from for so many years, Umama from her mother who raised her, you know, without her husband for all of those years and the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasalam bidding farewell to his daughter, his eldest daughter radiAllahu ta'ala anha. And Abu al-As, you know, SubhanAllah would cry so profusely and he would console himself with lines of poetry about his sadness and how much he missed her. And then Abu al-As dies only about a year after Zainab radiAllahu ta'ala anha. So SubhanAllah you see the love that these people had for one another and the sacrifices that were made for the sake of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, especially on the part of Zainab radiAllahu ta'ala anha. We ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala to send his peace and blessings upon the Messenger alayhi salatu wasalam and his family and we ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala to be pleased with them and the sacrifices that were made and we learn from this SubhanAllah in the very unique ways that people had to make compromises, sacrifices in regards to their families, their tribal alliances, all for the sake of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. So she's one of the first and she is the first daughter of the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasalam. Wa alaikum salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
Welcome back!
Bookmark content
Download resources easily
Manage your donations
Track your spiritual growth
1 items
1 items
1 items
25 items
50 items
9 items
