the poor, because—Allah knows best—of her compassion and kindness towards them. She had been married to Abd Allāh ibn Jahsh, who was killed at Uhud. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, then married her in 3 AH. She lived with him for only a short time, two or three months, before dying during his lifetime. Of his wives, only she and Khadījah died during his lifetime. According to another account, she was Maymūnah’s maternal half-sister.

Then came Zaynab bint Jahsh al-Asadiyyah, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah’s paternal aunt, Umaymah bint Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hāshim. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, married her in 5 AH. Before him, she had been married to Zayd ibn Hārithah, whom the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had adopted as his son. She is the woman concerning whom Allah said:

“So when Zayd had ended his marriage to her, We married her to you, so that there would be no blame on the believers for marrying the wives of their adopted sons once those sons have ended their marriages to them.” [al-Ahzāb: 37]

When he married her, the hypocrites said, “He has married his son’s wife, although he used to forbid that.” Allah therefore revealed the verse just quoted, and also revealed:

“Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but he is the Messenger of Allah and the Seal of the Prophets.” [al-Ahzāb: 40]

Allah Most High also said:

“Call them by their fathers’ names; that is more just in Allah’s sight. If you do not know their fathers, then they are your brothers in faith and your associates.” [al-Ahzāb: 5]

From then on, he was called Zayd ibn Hārithah, whereas previously he had been called Zayd ibn Muhammad. She was the first of the Prophet’s wives to die after him and join him. She died in 20 AH, during the caliphate of Umar, in the year Egypt was conquered. According to another account, she died in 21 AH, the year Alexandria was conquered.

Then came Umm Habībah bint Abī Sufyān Sakhr ibn Harb ibn Umayyah. Her name was Ramlah, according to the best-known account, though another account gives it as Hind. She had been married to Ubayd Allāh ibn Jahsh al-Asadī, who took her with him when he emigrated from Mecca to Abyssinia with the other emigrants. There she bore him Habībah, from whom she took her kunyah. He then went astray, embraced Christianity, and died a Christian. Umm Habībah refused to become Christian, and Allah willed for her nothing but Islam and emigration. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, then married her. According to one account, he proposed to her after she arrived in Medina, and Uthmān, her paternal cousin, gave her to him in marriage. According to another account, however, he sent his marriage proposal for her to the Negus and married her while she was in Abyssinia