Ibn Saʿd relates that ʿUtbah ibn Abī Lahab married her before the Prophet received his mission. That is how he put it, though the sounder view is that the marriage took place before the Hijrah. When the verse, “Perish the hands of Abū Lahab” (Q 111:1) was revealed, Abū Lahab said to his son, “I will have nothing to do with you unless you divorce the Prophet’s daughter.” Thus ʿUtbah separated from her before the marriage was consummated.

She accepted Islam together with her mother and sisters, after which she was married to ʿUthmān (1). Ibn Saʿd adds that she accompanied him on both migrations to Abyssinia. The Prophet ﷺ said, “They are the first people to migrate for the sake of Allah since Lot.”

She bore ʿUthmān a son, ʿAbd Allah—whose name he later used as his kunya. The child reached six years of age, whereupon a rooster pecked him in the face; the wound festered and he died.

Later, after ʿUthmān had already gone ahead, she migrated to Madinah. She fell ill shortly before the Battle of Badr, so the Prophet ﷺ left ʿUthmān behind to care for her. She passed away while the Muslims were engaged at Badr (2).

According to another report preserved by Ibn Saʿd—ʿAffān told us, Hammad related, ʿAlī ibn Zayd from Yūsuf ibn Mihrān, from Ibn ʿAbbās—he said:
“When Ruqayyah, daughter of the Messenger of Allah, died, he said, ‘Join our predecessor ʿUthmān ibn Maẓʿūn.’ The women began to weep over her, and ʿUmar started striking them with his whip. The Prophet ﷺ took his hand and said, ‘Leave them; let them weep.’ Then—"