Yaʿqūb ibn Sufyān reports—through Ḥajjāj ibn Abī Manīʿ, from his grandfather, from al-Zuhrī, from ʿUrwah, from ʿĀʾishah—that al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Sufyān al-Kilābī was the one who pointed her out to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, while I was listening from behind the curtain. He said, “Messenger of Allah, would you care for the sister of Umm Shabīb?” Now Umm Shabīb was al-Ḍaḥḥāk’s own wife.

Al-Zuhrī also relates that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, married a woman from Banū ʿAmr ibn Kilāb; when he was informed that she had a white skin-blemish, he divorced her without consummating the marriage.

I remark: It seems most likely that she is the very woman just mentioned; Allah knows best.

He further says that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, married the sister of al-Jawn of the Kindah tribe, allies of Banū Fazārah. She sought refuge from him, so he said, “You have sought refuge with the Mighty One; return to your family,” and he divorced her before entering upon her.

He continues: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, had a concubine named Māriyah, who bore him a son called Ibrāhīm; the child died after he had filled the cradle.

He also had a bond-servant named Rayḥānah bint Shamʿūn, a Jewish woman from the clan of Khunāfah, itself a branch of Banū Qurayẓah. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, later set her free, and it is said that she thereafter adopted the veil.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAsākir transmits, through his chain, from ʿAlī ibn Mujāhid, that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, married Khawlah bint al-Hudhayl ibn Hubayrah al-Taghlibī; her mother was Khirniq bint Khalīfah, the sister of Ḍiḥyah ibn Khalīfah. She was brought to him from Syria but died on the way. He then married her maternal aunt Sharāf bint Faḍālah ibn Khalīfah, who likewise was brought from Syria and likewise died en route.

Yūnus ibn Bukayr, citing Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, states that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, married Asmāʾ bint Kaʿb al-Jawnīyyah but divorced her before consummation; he also married ʿAmrah bint Yazīd—one of the women of Banū Kilāb, later of Banū al-Waḥīd—who had previously been the wife of al-Faḍl ibn ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, likewise divorced her before consummation.

Al-Bayhaqī comments: These are the two women whom al-Zuhrī mentioned without naming, although Ibn Isḥāq does not mention al-ʿĀliyah.

Al-Bayhaqī further relates: al-Ḥākim informed us, as did al-Aṣamm, on the authority of Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār, from Yūnus ibn Bukayr, from Zakariyyā ibn Abī Zāʾidah, from al-Shaʿbī, who said: A number of women offered themselves to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him; he consummated marriage with some of them and deferred