al-Mughīrah, ⦗9⦘ ibn Shuʿbah—who kept himself neutral—together with Qays ibn Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah and ʿAbd Allah ibn Budayl ibn Waraqāʾ; the last two fought alongside ʿAlī.
I say: The Shiʿah assert that the “Elders” ⦗1⦘ are five: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, ʿAlī, Fāṭimah, al-Ḥasan, and al-Ḥusayn. Their “Adversaries” are likewise five: Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, Muʿāwiyah, ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, and al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah.
Al-Shaʿbī said: I heard al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah remark, “No one ever outwitted me except a single youth. On one occasion I wanted to marry a woman and sought his advice. He said, ‘Commander, I do not think you should marry her.’ I asked, ‘Why not?’ He replied, ‘I saw a man kissing her.’ Later I learned that he had married her himself, so I said, ‘Did you not claim you had seen a man kissing her?’ He answered, ‘Indeed—I saw her father kissing her when she was a little girl.’ ⦗2⦘”
[He also related: I heard Qabīṣah ibn Jābir say, “I kept company with al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah. If a city had eight gates and no one could leave through any of them except by stratagem, al-Mughīrah would manage to exit through all eight.” Ibn Wahb said: I heard Mālik say] ⦗3⦘: Al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah used to observe, “The man with one wife menstruates when she menstruates and falls ill when she falls ill; the man with two wives stands between two blazing fires; but the man with four wives rests content.” He would marry four at once and divorce them at once.
ʿAbd Allah ibn Nāfiʿ al-Ṣāʾigh said: Al-Mughīrah contracted three hundred marriages. Another reported: a thousand. Qatādah said: one hundred. Others put the figure at eighty—and Allah knows best.
As for Juwayriyah bint al-Ḥārith ⦗4⦘ ibn Abī Ḍirār al-Khuzaʿiyyah al-Muṣṭalaqiyyah, Mother of the Believers, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ captured her during the expedition of al-Muraysīʿ, the campaign against Banū al-Muṣṭalaq. Her father was their chieftain. She embraced Islam, so the Messenger of Allah ﷺ set her free and married her. She had first fallen by lot to Thābit ibn Qays ibn Shammās, who had agreed to a manumission contract with her. She came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ asking for help with that contract. He said, “Shall I offer you something better?” She replied, “What is that, O Messenger of Allah?” He said, “I shall purchase you, emancipate you, and marry you.” He then freed her. People exclaimed, “They are in-laws of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ!” and consequently released the captives of Banū al-Muṣṭalaq who were in their hands—about one hundred households. ʿĀʾishah said, “I know of no woman who brought greater blessing to her people than she did.” ⦗5⦘