Umm
al-Mu'minin Zaynab bint Khuzaymah ibn Abdullah ibn Amr al-Hilaliyyahal-Amiriyyah, of noble lineage and high standing, was the
wife of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).
Her mother was Hind bint Awf ibn al-Harith ibn Hamatah
al-Himyariyyah. She married Khuzaymah ibn al-Harith and bore him no other
children besides Umm al-Mu'minin Zaynab bint Khuzaymah. She then married
al-Harith ibn Hazn and bore him two daughters: Umm al-Mu'minin Maymunah bint
al-Harith, whom the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) married
in 7 AH, but she did not bear him any children; and Umm al-Fadl Lubabah
al-Kubra, whom al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib married during the time of the
Prophet's mission. Lubaba al-Sughra was married to al-Walid ibn al-Mughirah
al-Makhzumi during the pre-Islamic era, and she bore him Khalid ibn al-Walid.
She also married Umays ibn Ma'd ibn al-Harith and bore him Asma' bint Umays,
who married Ja'far ibn Abi Talib before Islam, then Abu Bakr al-Siddiq in 8 AH,
and then Ali ibn Abi Talib in 13 AH. Salma bint Umays was married to Hamza ibn
Abd al-Muttalib before Islam.
The mother of the believers, Zaynab bint Khuzaymah
al-Hilaliyyah, was a believing soul, filled with longing and love for the bliss
of the Hereafter that God has prepared for her. She turned her attention away
from worldly matters to cultivate her afterlife through acts of charity and
good deeds. She spared no effort in caring for the poor, the needy, orphans,
and widows, attending to their needs, showing them kindness, and engaging in
other forms of compassion and mutual support, both before and after Islam. She
was even known as the Mother of the Poor.
Zaynab bint Khuzaymah al-Hilaliyyah, one of the Mothers of
the Believers, played a prominent role alongside the Muslim women at the Battle
of Badr, tending to the wounded, bandaging their wounds, and providing them
with food and water.
According to the most reliable accounts, she married
Abdullah ibn Jahsh (may God be pleased with him) before the Prophet Muhammad
(peace and blessings be upon him).
Abdullah ibn Jahsh was among the first to embrace Islam,
converting before the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) entered the
house of al-Arqam. He migrated twice, first to Abyssinia, then back to Medina.
The Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him,
appointed him commander of the Nakhla expedition, making him the first
commander appointed by the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him.
The Nakhla expedition took place in the second year of the Hijra, reportedly at
the end or beginning of Rajab. Its objective was to gather intelligence on a
Quraysh caravan.
When Abdullah ibn Jahsh and his companions reached Nakhla, a
region between Mecca and Ta'if, they spotted a Quraysh caravan. They engaged
the polytheists in battle, capturing some of them and seizing the first spoils
of war taken by the Muslims. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him,
divided the spoils into five parts, thus establishing the first fifth in Islam.
The Nakhla expedition occurred in the month of Rajab,
leading to some disagreement among the Muslims regarding the permissibility of
fighting during one of the sacred months (Rajab). Then the words of God
Almighty were revealed. “They ask you concerning fighting in the Sacred Months
(i.e., the 1st, 7th, 11th, and 12th months of the Islamic calendar). Say,
"Fighting therein is a great (transgression), but a greater
(transgression) with Allah is to prevent mankind from following the Way of
Allah, to disbelieve in Him, to prevent access to Al-Masjid-al-Haram (at
Makkah), and to drive out its inhabitants, and Al-Fitnah is worse than killing.
And they will never cease fighting you until they turn you back from your
religion (Islamic Monotheism) if they can. And whosoever of you turns back from
his religion and dies as a disbeliever, then his deeds will be lost in this
life and in the Hereafter, and they will be the dwellers of the Fire. They will
abide therein forever (Al-Baqarah: 217). These are the verses that clarified
the permissibility of fighting if the enemy initiates it and that their
persecution is greater than killing during the sacred months.
Most biographical works mention that Abdullah ibn Jahsh,
also known as al-Mujadda' (the mutilated one), was the one who prayed. This
name stems from an encounter he had with Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas on the eve of the
Battle of Uhud. Abdullah said to Sa'd, "Won't you come and supplicate to
God?" So they went aside, and Sa'd prayed, saying, "O God, if I meet
the enemy tomorrow, grant me a man of great strength and fierce anger so that I
may kill him for Your sake and take his spoils." Abdullah ibn Jahsh said,
“Amen.” Then he said, “O Allah, grant me tomorrow a man of intense anger, whom
I will fight for Your sake, and who will fight me. When he kills me, he will
seize me and cut off my nose and ears. When I meet you, you will say, ‘O
Abdullah, why were your nose and ears cut off?’ I will reply, ‘For Your sake
and for the sake of Your Messenger.’ He will say, ‘You have spoken the truth.’”
Sa’d said, “Abdullah’s supplication was better than mine, for I saw him at the
end of the day with his nose and ears hanging by a thread.”
Abdullah ibn Jahsh was killed at the age of forty-something,
and he and his maternal uncle Hamza were buried in the same grave. The
Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed over them.
Biographical accounts relate that the one who killed him on the day of Uhud was
Abu al-Hakam ibn al-Akhnas ibn Shariq.
When Abdullah ibn Jahsh was martyred at the Battle of Uhud,
the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) married the Mother of
the Believers, Zaynab bint Khuzaymah al-Hilaliyyah, in Ramadan of the third
year of Hijra. She was the fifth of the Mothers of the Believers. The Prophet (peace
and blessings be upon him) married her after his marriage to Hafsa (may God be
pleased with her) to console her for the loss of her husbands and to reward her
for her righteousness and piety.
Her marriage to Hafsa (may God be pleased with her) took place
before his marriage to Maymuna bint al-Harith ibn Hazn, the sister of the
Mother of the Believers, Zaynab bint al-Harith al-Hilaliyya.
تعليقات