His Marriage to Fāṭimah al-Zahrāʾ (peace be upon her)

Sufyān al-Thawrī related—through Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from his father—that a man heard ʿAlī on the pulpit of Kūfah say:

“I wished to ask the Messenger of Allah for his daughter’s hand (1). Then I remembered that I possessed nothing; nevertheless, recalling his generosity and our close ties, I went ahead and proposed. He said, ‘Do you have anything?’ I replied, ‘No.’ He asked, ‘Where is your Ḥuṭamiyyah coat of mail (2) which I gave you on such-and-such a day?’ I said, ‘It is with me.’ He said, ‘Give it as the dowry.’ So I gave it, and he married her to me.

“When the night came for me to enter upon her, he said, ‘Do not do anything until I come to you.’ He then came to us while we were covered with a quilt or a cloak, and we were about to rise, but he said, ‘Stay where you are.’ He called for a cup of water, supplicated over it, and sprinkled it upon me and upon her (3).

“I asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah, am I dearer to you, or is she?’ He said, ‘She is dearer to me, yet you are more precious to me than she is.’”

Al-Nasaʾī (4) transmitted the same report through ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn Sulaīt, from Ibn Buraydah, from his father, in wording more detailed than this. That version states that he offered a wedding feast for her with a ram provided by Saʿd and several sāʿs of barley contributed by a group of the Anṣār, and that after pouring the water over them he supplicated, saying, “O Allah, bless them in their union”—meaning their intimate relations.

Muḥammad ibn Kathīr (5) likewise reported—from al-Awzāʿī, from Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr, from Abū Salamah, from Abū Hurayrah—that when ʿAlī sought Fāṭimah’s hand, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ went to her and said, “My daughter, your cousin has proposed to you; what do you say?” She wept and replied, “Father, it is as though you have kept me for the poorest man of Quraysh!” He said, “By Him Who sent me with the truth, I did not speak about the matter until Allah gave me leave concerning it from the heavens.” Fāṭimah said, “I am content (6) with what Allah and His Messenger have chosen for me.”

He then left her, the Muslims gathered round him, and he said, “ʿAlī, make the proposal yourself.” So ʿAlī said, “Praise belongs to Allah Who never dies, and this is Muḥammad, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who has married me his daughter for a dower amounting to four hundred dirhams. So listen to what he says and bear witness.” They asked, “What do you say, O Messenger of Allah?” He replied, “I make you all witnesses that I have married her to him.” Ibn ʿAsākir (7) narrated this ḥadīth, and it is munkar—that is, weak and irregular.

Many other weak and fabricated reports exist on this subject; we have left them out so that the book does not become unduly long. Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAsākir cited a fair selection of them in his Tārīkh (8).