twenty-one years old; some say twenty-five—the very year the Kaʿbah was rebuilt.

Al-Wāqidī adds that she was forty-five at the time.

Other scholars state that his age, peace and blessings be upon him, on that day was thirty.

Ḥakīm ibn Ḥizām reports: “The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, was twenty-five years old when he married Khadījah, and she was forty.”

Ibn ʿAbbās says she was twenty-eight; both versions are cited by Ibn ʿAsākir.

Ibn Jurayj relates that he, peace and blessings be upon him, was thirty-seven when she bore him al-Qāsim—after whom he was commonly styled—then al-Tayyib, al-Ṭāhir, Zaynab, Ruqayyah, Umm Kulthūm, and Fāṭimah.

I remark: She was the mother of all his children save Ibrāhīm, whose mother was Māriyah, as will be explained.

The author then discusses each daughter of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and her respective husband. In summary:

• Zaynab married Abū al-ʿĀṣ ibn al-Rabīʿ ibn ʿAbd al-ʿUzzā ibn ʿAbd Shams ibn ʿAbd Manāf—Khadījah’s nephew, his mother being Hālah bint Khuwaylid. She bore him a son named ʿAlī and a daughter named ʾUmāmah bint Zaynab. ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib married ʾUmāmah after Fāṭimah’s death; she died while with him, after which she wed al-Mughīrah ibn Nawfal ibn al-Hārith ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib.

• Ruqayyah married ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān. She bore him a son, ʿAbdullāh—his first teknonym—and later he was known as Abū ʿAmr after another son. Ruqayyah died while the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, was at Badr. When Zayd ibn Hārithah arrived with the glad tidings of victory he found they had just levelled the earth over her grave. ʿUthmān had stayed behind to nurse her, so the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, allotted him his share of the spoils and his recompense, then married him to her sister Umm Kulthūm. Hence he was called “The Possessor of the Two Lights.” She too died in his house during the Prophet’s lifetime.

• Fāṭimah married his cousin ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib; he consummated the marriage with her after the Battle of Badr, as noted earlier. She bore al-Ḥasan—after whom he was kunyaed—and al-Ḥusayn, who was later martyred on the plains of Iraq.

I add: and, according to some, Muḥsin as well.

He continues: she also bore Zaynab and Umm Kulthūm. This Zaynab married her cousin ʿAbdullāh ibn Jaʿfar and bore him ʿAlī and ʿAwn; she died while in his care. As for Umm Kulthūm, the Commander of the Believers ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb married her; she bore him Zayd, and he passed away. She then married her cousins, the sons of Jaʿfar, one after the other: first ʿAwn ibn Jaʿfar, who died; then his brother Muḥammad, who died; and finally their brother ʿAbdullāh ibn Jaʿfar, in whose house she died.

Al-Zuhrī states that Khadījah bint Khuwaylid had been married to two men before the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. The first was ʿAtīq ibn ʿĀʾidh ibn Makhzūm, by whom she bore a daughter who became the mother of Muḥammad ibn Ṣayfī. The second was Abū Hālah al-Tamīmī, by whom she bore Hind ibn Hind. Ibn Isḥāq likewise names him, saying: “After ʿAtīq ibn ʿĀʾidh died, Abū Hālah al-Nabbāsh ibn Zurārah—of Banū ʿAmr ibn Tamīm, an ally of Banū ʿAbd al-Dār—married her, and she bore…”