Imām Aḥmad, Muslim, Abū Dāwūd, and al-Nasā’ī (1) all transmit the report through Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūbah—Muslim adds “and Shuʿbah”—while al-Tirmidhī (2) relates it through Hammām ibn Yaḥyā. All of them narrate from Qatādah, from Abū’l-Khalīl, from Abū ʿAlqamah al-Hāshimī, from Abū Saʿīd: that the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ captured some female prisoners at Autās who already had husbands among the polytheists. Certain Companions refrained and considered it sinful to approach them; whereupon this verse was revealed regarding the matter: “And married women are forbidden to you, except those whom your right hands possess” (al-Nisāʾ 4:24).

This wording is that of Imām Aḥmad. In his version he includes Abū ʿAlqamah al-Hāshimī in the chain, and he is reliable; this appears to be the soundest recension—Allah knows best.

A number of the early scholars inferred from this noble verse that the sale of a female slave counts as her divorce. This view is related from Ibn Masʿūd, Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh, Ibn ʿAbbās, Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, and al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī. The majority, however, disagreed, citing the ḥadīth of Barīrah: she was sold and then given the choice either to annul her marriage or to keep it—had the sale itself effected a divorce, no such choice would have been offered. We have treated the issue at length in the Tafsīr, which should suffice, and will revisit it, Allah willing, in al-Aḥkām al-Kabīr.

Some of the early scholars also argued—on the strength of this very ḥadīth of the Autās captives—for the permissibility of intercourse with a pagan slave-woman. The majority dissented, maintaining that the incident was specific to those women: perhaps they had embraced Islam, or were from the People of the Book. The full discussion belongs, God willing, in al-Aḥkām al-Kabīr.

Section: Those who were martyred at Ḥunayn and in the Autās detachment

• Ayman ibn Umm Ayman, the freedman of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ—his full name is Ayman ibn ʿUbayd (3).
• Yazīd ibn Zamʿah ibn al-Aswad ibn al-Muṭṭalib ibn Asad (4); his horse, called al-Janāḥ, bolted with him and he died.
• Surāqah ibn Mālik ibn al-Ḥārith ibn