894 – Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: “When ʿAlī married Fāṭimah (peace be upon her), the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him, ‘Give her something.’ He replied, ‘I have nothing.’ The Prophet said, ‘So where is your ḥuṭamiyyah coat of mail?’ ” Recorded by Abū Dāwūd and al-Nasāʾī, and al-Ḥākim declared it authentic ⦗1⦘.
– Hadith classification:
Al-Ḥākim judged the narration sound. It was also transmitted by al-Nasāʾī and Abū Dāwūd, and both he and al-Mundhirī remained silent about it. Several reports exist concerning the bridal-gift that ʿAlī gave to Fāṭimah, yet al-Ṣanʿānī stated that the chains specifying the amount of Fāṭimah’s dowry are unsupported. Ibn Ḥazm added that the narrations in which the Prophet ﷺ forbade ʿAlī to consummate the marriage until he gave her something all have interrupted chains or unknown transmitters and that none of them is sound.
– Vocabulary of the hadith:
• dirʿ: a shirt made of iron rings, worn in battle as protection against weapons.
• ḥuṭamiyyah: attributed to the tribe of Ḥuṭamah ibn Muḥārib, a clan of ʿAbd al-Qays known for making coats of mail.
– Points derived from the hadith:
- ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (may Allah be pleased with him) was the Prophet’s cousin. The Prophet ﷺ married him to his daughter Fāṭimah al-Zahrāʾ, the youngest of his daughters. The marriage took place in the second year after the Hijrah. She bore him al-Ḥasan, al-Ḥusayn, Muḥsin, Zaynab, Ruqayyah, and Umm Kulthūm, and Fāṭimah died