and said, ‘Hārūt and Mārūt are in the house!’ She said, ‘O Zaynab, may Allah make me your ransom! She said that every slave she owns is free, all her wealth is an offering, and she is a Jew and a Christian.’ She replied, ‘A Jew and a Christian! Leave the man with his wife’—meaning, ‘and expiate your oath.’

“I then went to Hafsah, the Mother of the Believers. She sent for her, and she came to her and said, ‘O Mother of the Believers, may Allah make me your ransom! She said that every slave she owns is free, all her wealth is an offering, and she is a Jew and a Christian.’ She replied, ‘A Jew and a Christian! Leave the man with your wife’—meaning, ‘and expiate your oath.’

“She then went to ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, and he came—meaning, to her. He stood at the door and greeted her. She said, ‘Sā anta wa-sā abūka.’ He said, ‘Are you made of stone or iron? What are you made of? Zaynab gave you a ruling, and Hafsah, the Mother of the Believers, gave you a ruling, yet you did not accept their rulings!’ She said, ‘O Abū ʿAbd al-Rahmān, may Allah make me your ransom! She said that every slave she owns is free, all her wealth is an offering, and she is a Jew and a Christian.’ He replied, ‘A Jew and a Christian! Expiate your oath and leave the man with his wife.’”

This report is well known. Humayd and others also narrated it from Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Muzanī. Ahmad and others narrated it and mentioned that all three instructed her to offer expiation for an oath. However, Sulaymān al-Taymī included in his narration, “Every slave she owns is free,” whereas Humayd and the others did not include this additional wording. This was the response Ahmad gave when he distinguished between an oath involving emancipation and other oaths.