ʿAbd al-Razzāq (1) related—through Maʿmar, from al-Zuhrī (2), from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, from Abū Hurayrah—that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, sought the hand of Umm Hāniʾ bint Abī Ṭālib. She said, “O Messenger of Allah, I have grown old and I am responsible for children.”

Al-Tirmidhī (3) reported: ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd narrated to us; ʿUbayd (4) Allāh ibn Mūsā narrated to us; Isrāʾīl narrated to us, from al-Suddi, from Abū Ṣāliḥ, from Umm Hāniʾ bint Abī Ṭālib. She said, “The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, proposed to me, but I excused myself, and he accepted my excuse.”

Thereafter Allah revealed: “We have made lawful to you your wives to whom you have given their bridal gifts, and those whom your right hand possesses of what Allah has granted you as spoils, and the daughters of your paternal uncles, the daughters of your paternal aunts, the daughters of your maternal uncles, and the daughters of your maternal aunts who emigrated with you” (Al-Aḥzāb 33:50).

She said, “So was I not lawful for him? The reason is that I had not emigrated; I was among those granted amnesty.”

Al-Tirmidhī added, “This ḥadīth is ḥasan; we know it only through the report of al-Suddi.” This indicates that any woman who had not emigrated was not lawful to him, peace and blessings be upon him. Qāḍī al-Māwardī records this view without qualification in his Tafsīr on the authority of certain scholars.

Others have said that the phrase “who emigrated with you” refers only to the female relatives just mentioned.

Qatādah said that “who emigrated with you” means “who embraced Islam along with you.” According to this, only the women of the unbelievers were forbidden to him, while all Muslim women were lawful. Hence his marrying women from the Anṣār—if that is established—poses no difficulty, although he never consummated any such marriage. As for al-Māwardī’s report from al-Shaʿbī that Zaynab bint Khuzaymah, the Mother of the Poor, was Anṣāriyyah, it is weak, for she was Hilālī by unanimous agreement, as explained earlier. Allah knows best.

Muḥammad ibn Saʿd (6) narrated, through Hishām ibn al-Kalbī, from his father, from Abū Ṣāliḥ, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Laylā bint al-Khaṭīm came to the Messenger of Allah while he had turned his back toward the sun. She struck his shoulder, and he said, “Who is this—prey of the lions? (7)(8)” She replied, “I am the daughter of the one who feeds the birds and outstrips the wind; I am Laylā bint al-Khaṭīm. I have come to offer myself to you in marriage—will you marry me?” He said, “I have done so.”

She returned to her people and announced, “I have married the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.” They said, “What a bad step you have taken! You are a jealous woman, and the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, already has wives. You will grow jealous of him and he will supplicate against you—go back and ask him to release you.” She returned and said, “Release me, O Messenger of Allah,” and he released her. She was then married by Masʿūd ibn Aws ibn Sawād ibn Ẓafar, and bore him children. One day, while she was bathing in a garden of Madinah, a black wolf leapt upon her, devoured part of her, and she died.