then examine them…’—the two verses (Al-Mumtaḥanah 60:10–11).
The Prophet would ask, “By Allah, is it only love for Allah, His Messenger, and Islam that has driven you out? You have not left for the sake of a husband or for wealth?” If they affirmed that, he would not return them to the unbelievers (1).
Umm Kulthūm had no husband in Mecca, so Zayd ibn Ḥārithah married her and later divorced her. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf then married her, and she bore him Ibrāhīm and Ḥumayd. When he died, she married ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ and passed away while in his household (2).
She transmitted ten hadiths in the Musnad of Baqī ibn Makhlad, and in the two Ṣaḥīḥs she has one hadith (3). Those who reported from her include her two sons, Ḥumayd and Ibrāhīm, as well as Busrah bint Ṣafwān.
She died during the caliphate of ʿAlī—may Allah be pleased with him. All the compilers of the canonical collections narrated from her except Ibn Mājah, and her biography was set out by Ibn Saʿd and others.
(1) Ibn Saʿd, Tabaqat, 8/230. Al-Bukhari also records the report in his Sahih, 5/228–229, at the beginning of the chapter on contractual conditions, with the chain al-Zuhri → ʿUrwa, who heard Marwan and al-Miswar b. Makhrama relate it from several Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. It says: “Believing women arrived as emigrants. Among them was Umm Kulthum daughter of ʿUqba b. Abi Muʿayt, who came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ while she was still a young maiden. Her family then asked the Prophet ﷺ to return her to them, but he refused after God revealed concerning such women: idha jaʾakumu al-muʾminatu muhajiratin fa-imtahinuhunna, Allahu aʿlamu bi-imanihinna (When the believing women come to you as emigrants, test them; God knows best their faith) … to His words wa la hum yahillna lahum (and they are not lawful for them).” ʿUrwa added: “ʿAʾisha told me that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to test them with this verse: ya ayyuha-lladhina amanu idha jaʾakumu al-muʾminatu muhajiratin fa-imtahinuhunna … ghafur rahim (O believers, when the believing women come to you as emigrants, test them … [He is] Forgiving, Merciful).” ʿUrwa continued: “ʿAʾisha said: ‘If a woman accepted this condition, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would say to her, “I have accepted your pledge,” merely uttering these words. By God, his hand never touched the hand of any woman during the pledge; he accepted their bayʿa only verbally.’ ” See also Ibn Kathir, 4/350.
(2) Al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, 4/66–67.
(3) Also narrated by al-Bukhari, 5/220, and by Muslim, no. 2650, in the Book of Birr wa Sila (piety and maintaining kinship ties).