959 – Al-Miswar ibn Makhramah (may Allah be pleased with him) related:
“Subayʿah al-Aslamiyyah (may Allah be pleased with her) gave birth only a few nights after her husband died. She then came to the Prophet ﷺ and sought his permission to remarry; he granted it, and so she married.” Narrated by al-Bukhari, and the principal version is found in both Ṣaḥīḥs.
In another wording: “She delivered forty nights after her husband’s death.” (1)
In a wording recorded by Muslim, al-Zuhri said: “I see no objection to her contracting marriage while still experiencing her post-partum bleeding, provided that her husband does not approach her until she attains purity.” (2)
— Vocabulary of the ḥadith —
• Subayʿah: with ḍammah on the letter sīn, followed by a single bāʾ, the diminutive of sabʿ, ending with a feminine tāʾ; she is Subayʿah bint al-Ḥārith al-Aslamiyyah.
• Nufisat: with ḍammah on the nūn and kasrah on the fāʾ, meaning “she delivered,” so she is in the post-partum period (nufasāʾ). The commentary on Muslim states that the common usage is nafisat—with fatḥah on the nūn and kasrah on the fāʾ—for menstruation, whereas for childbirth one says nufisat, with ḍammah on the nūn.
• Her husband: Saʿd ibn Khawlah (attributed to his mother) al-ʿĀmirī, who died in Mecca in the year of the Farewell Pilgrimage.
— Points derived from the ḥadith —
- Saʿd ibn Khawlah passed away leaving his wife Subayʿah al-Aslamiyyah pregnant, and she did not remain