Section: The Virtues of These Three Commanders—Zayd, Jaʿfar, and ʿAbd Allāh (may Allah be pleased with them)

As for Zayd ibn Ḥārithah—son of Sharāḥīl ibn Kaʿb ibn ʿAbd al-ʿUzzā ibn Imriʾ al-Qays ibn ʿĀmir ibn al-Nuʿmān ibn ʿĀmir ibn ʿAbd Wudd ibn ʿAwf ibn Kinānah ibn Bakr ibn ʿAwf ibn ʿUḏrah ibn Zayd al-Lāt ibn Rufaydah ibn Thawr ibn Kalb ibn Wabarah ibn Taghlib ibn Ḥulwān ibn ʿImrān ibn al-Ḥāf ibn Quḍāʿah al-Kalbī al-Quḍāʿī—the freedman of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ:

His mother once traveled to visit her clan, whereupon horsemen from Balqayn raided them and seized Zayd. Ḥakīm ibn Ḥizām later purchased him for his aunt Khadījah bint Khuwaylid. Another report states that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ himself bought him for her, and she then presented him to the Messenger of Allah before his Prophethood. When Zayd’s father eventually located him, Zayd chose to remain with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who thereupon freed him and adopted him. People thus called him “Zayd ibn Muhammad.”

The Prophet ﷺ loved him deeply. Zayd was the first of the freed slaves to embrace Islam, and several Qur’anic verses were revealed concerning him, including:

• “Allah has not made your adopted sons your real sons.” (al-Aḥzāb 33:4)
• “Call them by their fathers’ names; that is fairest in the sight of Allah.” (33:5)
• “Muhammad is not the father of any of your men.” (33:40)
• “You were saying to the one on whom Allah had bestowed favor and you had bestowed favor, ‘Keep your wife and fear Allah,’ while concealing within yourself what Allah would reveal; you feared people, though Allah is worthier that you fear Him. Then, when Zayd had concluded his need with her, We married her to you …” (33:37)

Scholars unanimously agree that these verses were revealed about him. The phrase “on whom Allah had bestowed favor” refers to the favor of Islam, while “you had bestowed favor” refers to the Prophet’s freeing him. We have discussed these passages in our Qur’anic commentary.

It is noteworthy that Zayd is the only Companion explicitly named in the Qur’an. Allah guided him to Islam; the Messenger of Allah ﷺ emancipated him, married him to his bondwoman Umm Ayman (whose name was Barakah), and she bore him Usāmah ibn Zayd—known as “the beloved son of the beloved.” The Prophet later married him to his cousin Zaynab bint Jahsh, paired him in brotherhood with his own uncle Ḥamzah ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, and appointed him commander over his cousin Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib at the Battle of Muʾtah, as previously mentioned.

Imām Aḥmad, and the ḥāfiẓ Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah—whose exact wording follows—said: “Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd narrated to us …”