Another group said: “Rather, he asked him to renew the marriage contract for his sake (1), to put his mind at ease, since he had married her without his consent.” This too is false: it cannot be attributed to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, nor does it accord with Abū Sufyān’s good sense. Nothing of the sort ever occurred!
Others, including al-Bayhaqī (2) and al-Mundhirī, said: “It is possible that Abū Sufyān made this request during one of his visits to Medina, while he was still a disbeliever, when (3) he heard of the death of Umm Habībah’s husband in Abyssinia.” When they were confronted with what they had no way of explaining away—his request to be appointed to command so that he could fight the disbelievers, and to have his son appointed as a scribe—they said: “Perhaps he made these two requests (4) after the conquest, and the narrator combined all of this into a single hadith (5).” The strained reasoning and extreme contrivance evident (6) in this explanation make any refutation unnecessary!
Another group said: “The hadith admits of a sound interpretation (7), namely, that the meaning is: ‘I now consent to her being your wife. Previously, I did not consent to that, but now I do, so I ask you to take her as your wife.’”
Were it not that pages have been filled with this and similar explanations, and books written about them,